The Ends of the Thread
by Breeva Malfoy
Summary: Sequel to The Missing Pieces. Scorpius/Rose. 'Evil can come in many shapes. In our world it was Voldemort. It was his deatheaters. In my world it was the muggle looming in the shadows, waiting to take it all away from me...JP/AP/LP/HW
1. Prologue

_**Hello All**_

_**This is the sequel to **_**The Missing Pieces**_**, my first Harry Potter Fan Fiction. Once again I would like to thank all my readers and to those of you who reviewed. It meant a lot and was very appreciated. Soo, I hope that I get good (or some) feedback for my second Fan Fiction. I would like to encourage anyone who will be reading **_**The Ends of the Thread **_**to read The Missing Pieces...but only for selfish reasons! (jokes) But really, I'm going to try and do my best, in hopes that the people who haven't read my first fic, will still be able to read this one without much confusion. **_

_**Anyway, Read and Review! Breeva **_

**Prologue**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

He hadn't expected this to go well. Maybe he should have held off. He probably should have.

A pair of forest green eyes blinked at him in quiet shock. A flicker of what he knew was untamed anger almost seemed to vibrate off of her creamy skin. He was thankful for the crowds about them though. At least if his murder was attempted in the next few minutes, he could just have a small shot at survival.

Scorpius watched her hands slowly turn into fists at her sides and he took a small, careful step back from her. Maybe.

" I thought..."

" I know Rosie. But he asked again, and I don't know...it seems like the thing to do right now."

" The thing to do?"

Scorpius frowned when she did. " I have to Rose."

The damn broke like he expected it to. Tears traced the face of a person he never wanted to cause pain...but there it was, running down her cheeks, melting in a pair of emptied eyes.

" You don't have to do anything! You're choosing this!"

Her voice expressed her panic. His heart strings pulled when he went to touch her, and she pulled away from his embrace.

" Rosie."

The girl shook her head full of flaming red waves. Her skin suddenly looked pale, all the effort from the effects of the sun losing chase as the reality of his words worked it's way through her tiny frame.

" It's a good thing Rose. I won't be gone that long. "

" Four years!" She sounded exasperated and beaten all at the same time. She turned on her heel, ready to walk away, but turned again wiping away her pathetic tears as she did.

His head was bent slightly to his left, like he was studying her. His hair was long and unkept, and a darker shade of the blond he had been growing out of ever since fifth year. His eyebrows were now drawn over a pair of clear, glass blue eyes, for the first time unreadable to her. She let herself linger on the features of his face a little longer than she liked, than forced her eyes beyond where he stood.

" We were supposed to go to college in those four years. You were the one who had the idea to travel before September...merlin Scorp...you were the one booking the hostels in Thailand for us! And all of a sudden you've decided to fly off to America and settle into a job that you feel obligated to take, but you don't even want!?"

" What gave you the impression that I don't want this job?" He hated fighting with her, it really was the worst thing in his world when they did, but he could feel one buring in his chest, ready and waiting for her temper to strike the chord it always did when it came to their arguments. " I never said I didn't want this job."

" What? You do? ?!" Her eyes slammed against his. Rose was as aware of the inevitable end to this sudden heated discussion. At this point, she welcomed it. " You, Scorpius Malfoy, who I've seen literally gag at the sight of a suit and tie, would suddenly like nothing more, than to take on desk work at a cushy, money grubbing, wear that suit and tie Monday thru Friday kind of job because his grandfather, a man who barely acknowledged his existence until very recently, realized how dandy retirement looked?!"

And the burning combusted inside of him. Seconds later flames licked at his throat. " It's better than wasting away four years of my life with my nose stuck between pages of a book like you! I don't want to go to college Rose! I never did and the only reason why I even agreed to fill out those bloody applications you kept pushing on me was to shut you the hell up!!" His eyes burned even when his best friends filled up again. " I'm not like you! I don't want to keep reading and taking tests and studying and taking more tests and than studying some more! Unlike you, I'm done with this! I'm done hiding behind my books!"

Her face froze in undeniable hurt.

" I'm sorry." His hand went out to meet her own. " Rose...I'm sorry."

She shook her head, sending her tears unto the front of her graduation robes staining the red and yellow garmets that clung to her skin in the heat of the June sun. She blocked his efforts to touch her, pulling herself and her limbs inward and away from him.

Damn it he always did this, and it made him slightly nauseated to think about how good he had gotten at it. For a small moment, he wondered if Rose noticed as well. When did it become so quick and easy to dissapoint and hurt her. When did he become so skilled at making up for it. When did an apology, any apology that left his mouth suddenly seem routine, habit...unmeaningful.

" Save it Scorpius." She looked damaged for a small moment before dropping her gaze toward her feet. " Just save it."

" Rose." His voice pleaded with her to forgive him. " Please try to understand. I need to do this. I want to do this."

" Well than do it." She snapped, every muscle clenching tightly as the words left her mouth. Her head lifted in time to see her friends face empty into greived defeat. " My parents are waiting."

" So are mine..." But she was already walking away from his protest. His hand went to grab her, to stop her, but she pulled away once more and turned her back on him. " Rose!"

" You know what?!" Flames of crimson incircled her face when her body turned to meet him. " If you want to go and work for some stranger that's fine! If that's what you really want, than go! Don't apologize for it! Just go! Get on with it." Each word cut the thick air surrounding them. " Do whatever the hell you want."

" Fine!"

Scorpius said nothing as she moved away from him. He could only order his feet to stay where they were, wish his mouth to restrain his tongue, will his hands to stop yearning for something more than the air to caress the skin there. His heart battered his ribs, his frustration mounting with her...with himself, as his eyes lifted and glared after her.

" Fine!" Rose shouted over her shoulder, her eyes glistening with a fresh stream of tears that he could see. " I know I will!" Her words echoed above the crowds now swallowing his best friend of seven years whole. "And I'll do it the only way I know how! Hiding behind my books!"

Her sob broke in her throat.

Scorpius Malfoy's feet betrayed him.

_**Next chapter should be up shortly. I had three chapters done, but decided against them, seeing how the story was going no where I wanted it to. But anyway,I thought after that I would post the prologue, see if I managed any feedback than continue on. Okay...soo review! Also, I'm skipping ahead a few years in the next few chapters so bare with me! Review!**_


	2. Chapter One: Choice

**Chapter One: Choice**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

Her smile stayed neat and tidy as she approached the podium. It hurt her cheeks, but she pressed on, aware that the entire student body was before her, her family somewhere in the mix as well.

Headmistress McGonangall reached her before Rose managed her way to the stage. With a smile, the elder woman passed Rose her diploma, shaking an unsteady hand that had only moments before had been released from a clenched fist.

" Congratulations Rose Weasley." The Headmistress grinned more broadly. The handshake turned into a small but meaningful embrace. " So much like your mother and father dear child. You'll do fine."

" Thank you Headmistress."

With a grateful nod, McGonagall left her trembling side. In one hand she gripped her diploma, unsure of what to do with the piece of parchment which was now so evidently her own. What she had worked so hard for. What she had strived for. Pencil to paper. So much study. Her transparent smile faltered. Why her nose was in her books so much.

A cough escaped her throat, but her body was moving without much care for the nerves now threatening to have her making a break for the nearest exit. Somewhere in the folds of her robes, she found her speech, the paper wrinkled and frayed around the edges from her own constant critisicm. She had read it so much. Rehearsed it until she was sick of listening to her own voice.

She unfolded the paper, smoothing the curled edges on top of the blackened podium she now stood before. Her breathing was uneven. Her hands were clammy. But her smile was in place. Her eyes traced the words on the page before her and her mouth went to speak them.

" I didn't want to make this speech today." Rose felt her hand crumple the paper before her, all that hard work, all the hours upon hours she had spent coming up with analogies and ironies and hope for the future, for their futures somehow seemed irrelevant. Hadn't they all heard it before? Of course they had and it was defintley something they were all expecting. What her family was expecting. What _he_ was expecting.

Her anger surged through her again, but her smile stayed solid on her lips. The balled up piece of parchment with her hard work traced all over it fell to the floor near her feet.

" But it was asked of me, so I agreed. I had months to think about what I was going to say, how I was going to say it, how I would look to all of you standing up here, preaching to you the importance of what we all had accomplished in the past seven years, and how all the knowledge we gained should be applyed to the great futures we all have before us."

Rose tried to empty her voice of the bitterness she was experiencing. Again she coughed, her eyes now lifting for the first time. Of course everyone was looking at her, to her. She wondered if her mother was biting her fingernails as the speech she had never heard before twisted from her daughters mouth. She knew her father was grinning at her. Hadn't the ball of words at her feet made it hard for him to keep his eyes open almost every time she practiced it?

" But you've heard it all before. We've been taught that very lesson from the moment we stepped through the doors of Hogwarts. We can do anything we put our minds to. We are the future. What we do, where we go, who we become when we leave all of this greatness behind, well that will be the deciding factor as to what kind of future we want to bring to the world."

Rose found her parents in the crowds than, and damn it if she wasn't spot on. Her father, a foot taller than anybody under the tents massive interior of white was grinning so hard from where he sat, she was sure his teeth would break apart against one another if he kept it up. The fact that he looked prouder than a peacock strutting about only made it worse, but of course only for her mother. Rose wondered if the poor woman would have any nails left by the time her daughter stepped away from the podium.

" I guess what I'm trying to say is that life in general...it's all about choice." It was getting more and more difficult at keeping her gaze away from the sea of silver and green that seemed to harassing her focus where she stood. " We all know the stories. We all know the names. Everyday for the past seven years every single one of us would walk by the memorial that holds their names, the product of their choices that they made, engraved in that stone forever. We would listen to the stories, the history...our history almost daily and for what? So we would never forget their sacrifice? So we would never take for granted the freedom that we have today? Yes. Of course..."

Her eyes travelled without her knowledge. They found his somewhere in the midst of his house colors. Rose took another shaky breath of warm air into her lungs.

" But it was also a lesson about choice. Imagine the world we could live in today if the fight had not been fought. If the people who fought for us decided that it was easier to lie down and surrender to an evil that was as adamant or more when it came to their beliefs. Would we be here today? And if by chance we were, would we have free will...would we have choice?"

The only noise breaking over her words was now the summer wind breezing through the light material of the tent, blending with the quiet that clung to every individual who sat before her.

Rose let her eyes focus on her family. Her father and her mother. Her Aunt and her Uncle. Her brother was maybe the only person under the entire tent oblivious to his sister and her words, his head hung weakly against his mothers side, sleep his choice at the present time.

She grinned than, and it wasn't forced. It wasn't pushed. It just was. Her cousins sat one by one next to one another, the same smile meeting her own, their hands so ready and prepared to clap her into an oblivion she would never come back from. Her friends not far from her family were very much the same way, proud and almost excited by her uncalculated words.

" The future is ours. But it is ours to take care of. Our choices will not only effect our present and what will be, but it will also effect the past and the efforts that bled for us so we could stand here today together, go out into the world and protect their choices."

" Some of us will choose to continue on with our education. Some will choose to follow in the footsteps of the ones who fought to give us our world back and others will choose their own paths. But the thing to remember, to always remember, we always have a choice."

Rose sighed deeply, the words leaving her lips always a constant in her life. Her eyes lifted once more, this time locking with the white blond wizards narrowed gaze of ice, a silent warning charging between the two. " The past represents our present. The choices we make, will make it our future."

* * *

" So he told you?"

" Was it that obvious?"

Albus laughed, dragging a hand through a thick mop of raven colored hair. It dashed into his eyes, brisking across the glasses he wore and settling across his forehead as it usually did. " Aside from the fact that we all watched the poor guy receive the worst part of your infamous temper, I would say it was pretty obvious he mentioned his impromptu move."

Rose shrugged, shrinking against her cousin as they passed a group of chatty Ravenclaws making their way toward the great hall for the remants of their graduation. " I'm guessing he told you before he told me than."

" I was the easier target." Albus lifted his gaze to watch Rose roll her eyes. " And besides I wasn't even sure if mom and dad...well mainly mom was actually going to let me fly off to Thailand. So, it would have been just you to tell anyway."

" Aunt Gin would have let you go Al..." Her eyes flickered again. " And besides, just because he decided he'd rather go on to America and forget the promises he made to me...us, well it doesn't mean that we still can't go. What about James? And Victoire and Teddy? I thought they were thinking about it too?"

Albus was the one to shrug now, shouldering through the crowds that had mingled at the entrance to the dinner hall. " James is still as undecided as to what he wants to be doing with himself since the day he graduated, so I wouldn't count on him. As for Vix and Ted I'm pretty sure tracking about Thailand with us is defintley not going to be a high point on their list of things to do."

Rose sighed, swinging behind her cousin as they walked through the long tables of Huffelpuffs and Griffindors, searching for the faces of their families. " I can't believe he could just drop this on me...us."

Al grinned knowingly. " Really? It is Scorpius after all."

" Rose!"

" Speak of the devil himself." Rose muttered as she made her best attempt at ignoring her name as it was shouted ignorantly above the heads of the people surrounduing her. " Do me a favor Al."

The favor was of course soundless between the two cousins and Albus nodded with a sense of duty and annoyance all wrapped into one. While Rose pushed and prodded her way through her classmates to follow the laughter her family was now adding to the chaous of the hall, Albus stuck himself between her escape and Scorpius Malfoys pursuit of her.

" Hey Scorp! Hows the family?"

" Sod off Potter." Scorpius grumbled, his head bobbing over the table ahead of him. " Where's Rose?"

" Lyra sure is getting big. I heard she crashed a quidditch ball through McGonagalls office window earlier"

Scorpius glowered at his friend. " Forget it. I'll find her myself."

Albus stepped ahead of his friend, blocking him from where Rose had so obvioulsy gone to hide. " You're asking for it Scorp. Leave her be for awhile. You know she's far from cooled off yet."

The blond wizard sighed deeply, than threw another sneer at Albus. " I suppose you think the same thing than."

" Nah." The two teens turned about in the groups of witches, wizards and muggles, Albus offering Scorpius a comforting pat on the back. " You had to tell her I guess...your timing though Scorp, not so great..."

" I know, I know. But she was going on and on about Thailand. What was I supposed to do, sit there and nod?" Scorpius caught sight of his mother threw the crowds, one hand waving him over, the other hand most defintley holding the damn camera she wouldn't put down. Albus laughed and waved back toward the smiling woman.

" Guess not." He agreed while the two friends slowly made their way toward the Slytherins table. " Like I said, give her some time. You know Rose. After all, she's probably the most reasonable one out of all of us."

" My goodness Albus look at how tall you've gotten!" Their conversation ended quickly with a woman a few inches shorter than both boys squeezing her way between them to embrace a grinning Potter. " I can't believe it. You were only up to my shoulder a few months ago!"

" Thanks Mrs. Malfoy." Albus received another peck on the cheek from his friends mother, and felt his face heat up slightly. " I'll have to give my mom the edge when it comes to my height though...but don't tell my dad I said that. He's a little sensitive when it comes to feet and inches...you know, seeing how Lily is almost looking him in the eye now."

A deep chuckle cracked around them, followed by a hard thump on both Albus and Scorpius backs. " I knew I liked this kid for a reason!"

" Jeez Dad." Scorpius winced at the pounding he had just received.

" Hey Mr. Malfoy." Albus shook his friends fathers outstretched hand. " You'll be happy to hear I also get my sense of humor from my mother as well."

Draco laughed again. " Of course." He wound an arm around his wife than. " But I'm sure you get that charming act you're pulling on Mrs. Malfoy here from Potter."

Al agreed with a small smirk. " I suppose my genetics were good to me on both ends."

Scorpius was still searching for his breath when the conversation turned back to the buisness at hand.

" How much film do you have left in that thing anyway Nora? Merlin, you think it would have been worn out by now." Draco went to examine the camera glued to his wifes hand only to have it pulled out of his reach with a squeak of protest.

" It's digital dear." A pair of honey colored eyes flashed amusement at the two boys before her. " And I'm not about to explain to you what digital is because I'm pretty sure you won't be listening."

Draco tapped his nose and smirked. Nora shook her head, than held the camera out to take what seemed like the hundreth picture that day. " Get together...Scorpius where's Rose...I don't think I have a picture of you two yet."

Scorpius frowned. Albus rolled his eyes. " Lover's spat Mrs. Malfoy. Believe me, it's best this way unless you want a picture with Rosie's hands trapped about our boy's neck here."

The camera dropped to Nora's side. Her eyes immediatley lay on her son in a most disgruntled way. " Is that what you were arguing about earlier.You told her today?! Right before she had to go up on that stage!? Scorpius Malfoy!"

" Hey Scorp!! Scorp!!"

A blond girl, his favorite little blond girl at the moment well every moment really, was making her way through the sea of people, tugging a red headed boy with her who seemed less than exuberant as his partner did. She bounced up toward her brother, ignoring her parents expressions of confusion as to when and how their daughter had even left the table without their knowledge. " So McGonagall isn't that upset Scorp! She said that the window was old anyway and she secretly was looking to get a new one. And than she told me that I should keep practicing playing quidditch because I obviously have a talent for it but I should just make sure it's no where near anything breakable!"

Hugo breathed out an impatient huff. Lyra blinked at her friend once before shaking her bob of short hair. " Don't be mad Hugo. She said you were good too."

" Yeh, but she also said I was more like my father when it came to Quidditch and I could use some lessons from you."

Draco burst into another round of laughter. Nora grinned lightly. Scorpius and Albus couldn't help but smirk behind their hands. The smallest Malfoy glowered at the boy before her. " And just because I'm a girl, you would rather suck at the game instead of me teaching you something about it?"

" So what?" Hugo snapped, his pale skin darkening again as the two children slowly approached each other.

" Oh for the love of..." Nora was between the two children before a repeat of the days events had a chance to replay once more. " Lyra stop being arrogant. I swear you're more like your father everyday. And Hugo there is no shame in taking a few pointers from Lyra. Next time you play you may just beat her." Her face flashed toward Scorpius who instantly took a step backward from his mother. " And you! Whatever you've done to make Rose upset, you had better have a good idea as to how to make it better before this day is out. I can't believe you would tell her you are leaving the day of her graduation!"

Albus who was still hiding behind his hand muffled another attack of laughter.

" Now." Nora straightened up, flicking her husband a warning expression just for good measure. Draco winked at her. Nora huffed, picked up two cupcakes dripping with neon green icing from the table behind her, and passed either one to her daughter and Hugo. When she whipped around to find both her son and Albus still staring at her, she snatched the camera back from Dracos waiting hands and pointed the lens at the two boys.

" Now smile!" Nora Malfoy ordered.

They did without much reluctance.

* * *

The train would be there at three. Scorpius marched the halls that led to the Griffindor dorms, every so often throwing angry glares at the watch on his wrist. He was done with being patient. If she didn't want to talk to him than he would just have to ambush her on the way to the station. His eyes blinked once at the portrait before him, the plump woman inside of the frame smiling back at him in a lazy kind of way. Every once in a while she would yawn, and pat the bun of yellow blond hair on top of her head, but due to the lack of conversation from his end she was in and out of cat naps as the minutes ticked by.

A week. A whole damn week and Rose had managed somehow to avoid his every call, his every attempt at mending what he had broken and she was still ignoring him. The day after their graduation he had basically found her in the damn library, returning books he was sure she had had out all year. He had said her name. She had ignored him. She had planted herself at a nearby table, and he did the same. Again he tried to get her to talk to him and again, she said nothing. The only thing she did do, most pointedly, mostly for his benefit was stick her nose inside the book she was reading.

Scorpius groaned at the memory. He had stuck his foot in it before with Rose and this _Scorpius Malfoy doesn't exist_ business she was torturing him with presently, was something he should had been used to by now. And it always passed. It usually took a few days and an asortment of apologies, but it always passed and life went on for them.

The fact that he had been feeling sick since the moment the words of his departure had left his mouth wasn't making things any better. The fact that her words, the ones she had spoken from the podium a week before seemed to crush his insides everytime his memory allowed them entrance, was only dragging him deeper into the grave he had dug for himself when it came to Rose Weasley.

_The past represents our present. The choices we make, will make it our future._

" My dear boy are you just going to mope about in front of me all day or are you going to try your luck and knock."

" Can't you just let me in?"

" Slytherin aren't you? A Malfoy I presume?"

He held back the glare that was searching away into his expression. " Yes."

" You know the rules dear." The lady smiled sweetly, and yawned again. " But..."

" But?"

" Graduated last week didn't you?"

" Yes."

Her eyes glistened violet against very brown skin. " Well than I suppose your neither slytherin or giffindor anymore than child."

When the door slowly opened before him, he wondered how possible it was to hug a picture that hung on the wall. As it was, it was impossible, but in the moment of elation that he felt if it had of been possible, he would have broken through the painting and hugged the lady with the yellow bun on top of her head, silly.

" Be nice when you see her dear." The portrait spoke softly now. " I've seen that poor girl in tears more than once over the past years and I have quite a feeling that you may have just been the route of those tears."

Scorpius felt his insides twist uncomfortably. " Yes mame."

When the portrait closed behind him, it was only than that he ran a hand over his face in an attempt at pulling himself together. He shook his head, wiping his palms on the pants of his jeans. Even though he was just wearing a black t-shirt, the neck for some odd reason seemed tighter around his neck. He pulled at it hard as he walked the length of the hallway that led to the main dormitory.

He knew his way around the Griffindor dorms. It wasn't the first time he had made his way past the plump lady that guarded the griffindor house...only when he did sneak by her it was always assisted by either Albus or Rose and the invisibilty cloak they shared. Now as he walked he suddenly felt very alone and kind of in the wrong for trapsing into their space without even letting them know he was coming.

It was a feeling that dimmed quickly though. The chocking sensation he was feeling was a hell of a lot more over powering.

No one seemed to notice him though, or if they did they barely cared. Russell Hicks, a sixth year with a forgetful memory he was known for, was rushing around the main common room, stuffing odds and ends he had left out belonging to him into a thick orange duffell bag. He waved to Scorpius and than headed off in the direction of the boys dorms in order to seek out more of his belongings he had misplaced.

Three girls with identical blond hair, set in waves about their shoulders squeeked out small hellos as he mounted the stairs to where Rose's room was. He blushed red when he heard their giggles follow him up the winding staircase, and pulled at the collar of his tshirt again.

The hallway was narrow as he remembered it, although this time he wasn't falling into it either. It had been the one and only time Rose had let him crash in her room after a mishap with some firewhiskey found him falling down drunk. If it hadn't been for Rose pulling him in through the portrait in the nic of time, Professor Tingles would have caught a very intoxicated Scorpius somewhere not too far from her dorms, probably incoherant to the punishment he would have been sure to recieve.

The floor he passed out on that night was more like heaven, compared to the night of terror he had escaped. For that, he was forever indebted to his friend.

Scorpius stopped before the cherry wood door. He wiped his palms against his jeans again. He tried to clear his throat. He swept his hair off of his face. He pulled at his collar again and lifted his fist to knock.

The door opened before he had a chance though and it revealed that friend still clad in what could have been seen as pajamas if only it was the pair that was made of flannel he was used to seeing her dressed in, and not a pair of solid black knickers and a tad to small griffindor tshirt wrapped around her torso.

" Scorpius!" Rose shreiked, pulling the toothbrush that had been hanging out of the corner of her mouth, from between her lips in order to scream correctly at him.

" Rose!" He mouthed her name, but nothing but a squeek escaped his throat.

The door slammed in his face instantly. Her anger pierced through it though. " What the hell are you doing up here?! Who let you in?! Was it Albus!!"

Why the hell was his voice not working? He blinked once, than twice. His hands were dripping wet suddenly.

" Well?!" She shouted again, this time over the sounds of what could have been her throwing on proper clothes. " Scorpius!?"

The door flew open again. Jeans now covered her legs, but to his dismay she had forgotten to change out of the griffindor tshirt that for some odd reason continued to hold his attention.

" Scorpius!" She shouted again, this time pulling him into her room and out of sight. " What the hell?! So what? You've resorted to stalking me now?!"

" Stalking you?!" He blinked, shaking his head slightly. " I'm not bloody stalking you. I'm trying to get you to talk to me Rose. And you knew I was down there waiting for you to come through the portrait hole but I bet you had no intentions on coming that way did you?"

" So what if I didn't?"

He growled low in his throat. Rose threw him a sneer. " I'm leaving in two days Rose. Is this really how you want to leave things between us?"

" Us?" She mimicked him, her tone matched the resurfacing irritation he always seemed to drag out of her. " Do you really think I want to have this conversation again Scorpius. Do what you want and stop worrying about how I'm holding up...or how _us_ is holding up."

Her hands stayed busy, pouring the remaining clothes she had lying about into her trunk. Her eyes scanned the room around her in an effort to stay away from his.

" Jesus Rose!" He threw his hands up in the air. " What have I done to deserve all this?! I found a job?! A job that I want?! I'm sorry if this ruins your plans for a summer roaming through Asia, but damn it I don't deserve this snotty little attitude you've been passing me!"

" Snotty!?" She turned on him in a flutter of heartbeats, her finger pointed sharply at his scorned expression. " Having a snotty attitude is definitley better than being an arrogant, selfish little child who has no idea what being a friend is! Who has no idea how to keep bloody promises and who throws about apologies with such little regard for the people he's saying them to it actually makes me sick!"

" Is that really what you think!" He yelled back, the tendons under the skin in his neck straining away from his vocal chords.

" Yes!" Rose shouted, fighting with the urge to pop him one in his pretty freaken face. Her finger jabbed him in the chest. " What I know!"

Face to face they stood. For a long silence that seemed to trap them both, Scorpius could only remember how to breath air into his lungs and exhale. Rose stood her ground, even though the person now looming over her looked more like a stranger readying himself for her tortured demise.

" And what about choice." He spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes narrow slits of rage as they studied her for some kind of reaction to the word she had spoken so fondly of.

She almost spat when she spoke. " You made yours."

Something quick and sharp attacked his insides. He faltered slightly, his face softening slowly while hers stayed vibrant with anger. His hands released their grip, the indententions his nails had made in his palm screamed with relief, while his shoulders lost their stance, and slumped forward.

His eyes didn't study her now. They just watched her. Focused on her. Tried to steal every freckle on her creamy skin, tried to memorize the way she looked with a tumble of crimson propped on top of her head. They scanned her bright green eyes, that even though flashed rage at the moment, he knew, he remembered, lit up when he made her laugh. He even traced the lines of her nose, holding back a sad grin as it reminded him of what his mother referred to as a button.

" Please leave."

Her mouth was something he needed no memory of, but he looked anyway. She was frowning. Her upper lip trembled slightly, her bottom lip was full and following suit. They were unpainted because Rose never wore more than lipgloss, but they were still a soft red.

" Scorpius." They moved under his watchful gaze.

And he met those eyes again. They were stored somewhere in his memory now, but he looked anyway, let himself bore into them, wishing he could fix what he now knew was so obviously unmendable.

" Just leave."

" Rose."

Her eyes filled with a grief she had never experienced. Her voice rose above it. " Leave!"

Scorpius shook his head, but stepped away from her. His hands lay dead at his sides, but the door was already wide open for his awaited exit. His voice was hoarse when he finally put the words together, the ones he spoke so often, and the ones he knew were now trivial to her ears.

He spoke them anyway. There was nothing left to say. " I am sorry Rose."

He shut the door behind him.

Rose slid to her floor, a silent sob breaking what he had left of her. " I am too Scorp."

_**Oh jeez. What's going to happen. A lot in the chapter I know, but next chapter I'm hauling ass to the future because I like to play with more mature characters. Anyway, read and review! Please Review folks! It's so nice to see the feedback! Also I've seen kind of a spike in my readers for The Missing Pieces which makes me extremely happy! You can review for that one as well if you would like! Anyway, next chapter up soon! **_

_**Breeva**_


	3. Chapter Two: Best Man

**Chapter Two: Best Man**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

_**Seven Years Later**_

Adair Contracting was a minor prison. It never really bothered him though. The hours were long, the days were busy, the nights were the same. The work was hard and demanding. Every limb ached by the time he did make it home in the evening, the only release for the pain and tension aching through his muscles was the heat of a shower and half a bottle of firewhiskey that helped send him into a dreamless sleep.

His grandfather had passed away earlier that year, leaving the company in his hands and only his, signing the entire business over to him the night before he took his last breath. It seemed only fitting. Scorpius had worked hard to please him from the moment he walked through the doors of the place that was now his refuge from the outside world. Adair Contracting was his. He had felt it from the beginning.

" I understand that sir." The phone he cradled under his chin seemed to blast out it's displeased response. Scorpius narrowed his eyes at nothing in paticular, the onset of a headache creeping up and over him. " But you have to understand that my crew can't even start the foundation until the blueprints you supplied us with are back in order."

Another angry response sounded through the deepest part of his buzzing brain. " Well if you would like to take your buisness elsewhere I can't stop you from doing so. But you will have the same issue where ever you look, I'd be putting my company at risk by going ahead with the project without the right papers. I would hope a buisness man like yourself would understand that."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, his forefinger and thumb pressing hard enough to leave the skin there a crimson color. The line was quiet for a solid minute. Scorpius took that time to breath in deep and steady, hoping that his patience would hold out for the duration of the conversation.

" Well than I'm glad to hear that Mr. Logan." The tendons in his back released slightly. " And you can call me anytime with any concerns or questions. As soon as the plans are in my hand I'll have my crew out on sight."

He listened quietly, his hand absently reaching for the long slim piece of wood laying across his desk in the midst of too much paper. " Well thank you sir. Yes, he was a good man..." His fingers brushed across the cherry colored wood and he chuckled half heartedly. " I've been told that. I 'll take it as a compliment."

Scorpius hung up after another brief comment about how his grandfather would have been so proud to see him now, how well he was doing, how the company was thriving, the clients last ditch effort to mend the bridge he had almost just snapped in half. Scorpius had listened to the compliments, but he wasn't quite sure if he was anything like his grandfather. He had barely known him, even over the seven years of working under him, learning from him, becoming his protege in a way, Scorpius had barely had a conversation with Jacob Adair without it being about buisness. He was a good man of course, an honest man, a good head on his shoulders when it came to the company he had built from the ground up, but Scorpius had never felt any sense of family from him...not like he had hoped for.

" Mr. Malfoy."

His thoughts drowned away quickly when the high pitched voice of his receptionist barked at him through the intercom of his office phone. He squinted at the piece of technology now, his voice straining to stay pleasant. " Maggie."

" Sorry to interrupt sir, but I have a young gentleman out in the waiting area demanding to speak with you."

Scorpius cocked his head. " Is he a client?"

" Um, no sir, not that I'm aware of."

Her voice sounded like she was watching the visitor with interest. Scorpius smirked tightly, planted a grin across his mouth, than got to his feet. " Send him in."

" Of course Mr. Malfoy."

Scorpius looked about the office that he knew needed to be cleaned. He wondered if in the mess somewhere he could find a damn aspirin. He wondered if he could find anything in the chaous that surrounded him.

A knock at the door followed by a loud laugh had his eyes shifting toward the small outburst.

Moments later his small blonde receptionist was leading Albus Potter into his office, her face glowing, and small giggles sounding from behind her hand. Her eyes immediatley sunk into a timid embarassment when she found her boss staring at the man beside her, with little happiness in his expression.

" Jeez Malfoy..." Albus, grinning wide at the man frozen before him, scanned the room, amusement twitching at the corner of his lips. " What have you done to the place?"

Maggie smiled lightly, swallowing another giggle. " Um, can I get you anything Mr. Malfoy? Your guest? Coffee maybe?"

Scorpius lifted one eyebrow toward Albus, who was shaking his head. " No thanks, Maggie is it? Pretty name. But as it stands, and by the look on Mr. Malfoys face here I don't think I'm going to be around that long anyway."

The receptionist nodded lightly, throwing Scorpius one final glance before shrinking out of the room and closing the door behind herself.

" Nice girl." Albus chimed, having another look about the office he now stood in. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and leaned back on his heels absently. " No fireplace yet I see."

" No need for it." Why he felt like he was going to throw up he had no idea, but the moment he watched Albus Potter walking through the doors of his office, all he could feel was dread building inside of him. " What's up Potter?"

" I doubt you apparate everywhere, seeing how no one has seen you in what seems like months. You should look into getting one installed."

Scorpius reached for another deep breath. " What's up Potter?"

" Haven't talked to you in awhile, you missed James birthday last month. I think you may just be avoiding your friends Scorp."

" I've been busy." He grumbled, as he turned his back on the black haired man, resuming the search for the aspirin he had been looking for. " Sorry."

" I don't think James noticed for long." Al smirked. He glanced at the long black sofa to the rare of the room, and managed to clear off what looked like a box of tools, wrapped in large white bristol board with blue markings scribbled on it to the floor without much notice from his friend. " He was pretty well knackered before a lot of us even got to the pub. Ended up puking on some pretty red head by the end of the night...serves him right I suppose."

Scorpius sneered at the flip that his stomach made.

" Anyway, so what's going on Scorp. Dad was out with your old man last week, went to the watch the match with Uncle Ron. Box seats or something. He said you haven't been to see your folks in a few weeks."

" Christ Al, I've been busy." Where the hell was the damn aspirin! " Look around."

Albus fell into a small silence. Scorpius knew he was being watched as he stormed about the room, desperate to find something to deaden the pain now searing through his head.

" Anyway!" He finally breathed, running a hand through the mop of crow colored hair that hung about a set jaw, the strands still very similar to his seventeen year old self. " Seeing how you've become somewhat of a shut in, I'll forgive you for forgetting to ask me how I've been doing...or what's new."

" What's new Al?" He grunted, dropping down into his office chair without any aspirin and eyeing the wand still lying on his desk. He wondered how easy it would be to obliverate the idiot from where he sat.

" Rose is getting married."

" What?!" He spat. His fingers instantly curled around his wand. A growl escaped his suddenly dry throat. " Married?!?! To who?!!"

Albus quirked a grin. " Oh, did I say Rosie? I meant me."

Scorpius blinked hard. He was going to break his wand in half. His chest was going to explode. Was he seeing red?

" Merlin Scorp you okay?" Albus was tensing for a fist to meet his nose from where his friend sat. " Did you hear me? Not Rose. Me. I'm getting . To Bree... remember Bree? Scorp?"

" Bastard." His lips moved to speak the only word his mind could form at the time. He barely heard it over the rush of blood now boiling from somewhere inside his ears.

" Not even a congratulations?!" Albus sat back against the couch again, ignoring the glare he was now receiving from Scorpius. " And here I was, came all this way, landed in some kind of over populated coffee shop, rode that muggle contraption that you call a subway, just so I could tell you I was getting married and thats all I get in response?"

" Fucking bastard."

Albus laughed, shaking his head. " No doubt I deserved that. You think you could still be my best man though?"

Scorpius stopped thinking up a few more nasty insults to throw at his friend instantly. " What?"

" My best man."

" What about James?"

" Well merlin Scorp. It's my wedding. Well, Bree's. But I'm included in it at some point..." He grinned. " I think at the end somewhere I come in. Anyway,of course James is going to be up there with me, but no one said I had to just be stuck with him for the longest walk of my life. Her life. Anyway, I want you up there with me too I guess. Two pairs of hands holding me in place are better then one."

Scorpius couldn't help grin. " James would let you make a break for it anyway. Probably be the highlight of his year."

Al couldn't help but agree. He measured his friends expression evenly, watching what could have been a small pinch of panic flood into a sharp stare. Albus stood up than, shifting his eyes away from the solid figure now slouching behind a cluttered desk. " So what do you say Scorp?"

" Does she know that you were going to ask me?"

" Yeh. She knows." Al sighed, shrugging off the guilt already clawing at him. He swallowed the truth and spit out a lie instead. " She was happy actually. Said it was going to be good to see you after so many years...you know Rose...she was really fine with it."

Scorpius said nothing, nor did he move a muscle for an entire minute. In this minute the red he had just gotten rid of, the one that had almost blinded him with rage, found it's way back to his gaze.

" So, if she's fine with seeing you, than I guess that means you have to be fine with seeing her." Albus noticed all to well the anger billowing in a pair of eyes that somehow no longer looked human. " Right? I mean it's been seven years."

" Right." He tried to unclench his teeth. _Fine with it was she? It was going to be good to see him was it?_

" So you'll do it than?"

For a moment he was lost in seeing her face again, seeing her for the very first time since that day they had stood in her dorm room and ended their friendship. He couldn't help visualizing her face, the expression that would blend so well with his own when the _hello's _and the _how have you been's _were being traded between them. Would she be fine with it than? Would it be good to see him than?

" Malfoy?"

The moment gave way though and slid away from his thoughts for a very small piece of time. He couldn't help but grin as he got to his feet, shrugging his shoulders as he did. " What can I say Al. I suppose you'll need someone there aside from James...I'll laugh when you pass out once you realize what you've gotten yourself into, but I'll make sure you get down the aisle." Scorpius chuckled. " I wouldn't miss it."

_Next chapter up soon. Review if you like. I'd really appreciate it!_

_Breeva_


	4. Chapter Three: Maid of Honor

**Chapter Three: Maid of Honor**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

_**Authors note: When I was writing the Missing Pieces I ended up messing up the ages of the Potter kids. So in this story as in it's prequel, James is the oldest, Albus is the middle and Lily is the youngest. Please don't be mad, I just really don't want to change it. That's just the way the characters grew as I was writing! thanks! Remember to review!**_

" Damn it."

" What's wrong now?"

Rose Weasley frowned at her reflection staring back at her from the floor length mirror adorning all four walls of the dressing room she felt slightly trapped in. She tugged at the satin folds tightly wound around her torso and couldn't help the muffled growl that slipped from between her lips.

" Are you sure you want me to wear this?"

The woman that answered her sounded more than amused. " Of course I'm sure. What's wrong with it?"

" It's very tight."

Bree Vindley laughed again, shaking a head full of onyx colored hair about a pair of relaxed shoulders. " That's the design Rosie."

Another huff came from behind the closed glass doors. " Oh for the love of god Rose! Get your butt out here so I can see for myself! Are you falling out of it or something? Doesn't it fit? I had your measurements. I can't see it not fitting you now unless you've been to your grandmothers in the last twenty four hours!"

The door opened slightly, but only revealing a bob of flaming crimson hair framing an angry face. " It's revealing Bree!"

" Of course it is!" Bree grinned, uncrossing her long legs and standing up from the chair she had been more than comfortable in. Her hand wound about the door frame and she yanked on it. Rose's grip was tighter. Bree shook her head again at the pityful look her friend was shooting her. " Rose Weasley, this is my wedding and as my maid of honor you have to obey everything I demand of you. Let me remind you I could have put you in something awfully tacky, with frills and bows and crinlan and more fills. You should be thanking your lucky stars right about now."

Rose went to open her mouth, to moan again no less, but Bree was apparently not done. " So let go of the door and come out here so I can see what needs to be altered. I swear, come your wedding I'll remember to put you through this much torment."

She gave up. What could she do. Rose supposed she was lucky in a sense. Bree was right. Her friend could have very well have put her in some atrocity to humanity, instead of a piece of satin that was sure to bring her as much attention as the bride was to gain upon entrance. Rose sighed and released the door from her death grip.

Bree more than happy with herself, stood back and let the woman slowly walk out from behind the swinging glass. " Perfect." The air emitted from her lungs in a gush of what could have only been awe.

Rose fidgeted again, the cool air pumping from the air conditioner over her head, sending small goosebumps across the skin of her exposed back.

" Well turn around!"

She made one small turn for her friend, coming about only to see a smile blossom even more so on her lips. " Well you've at least got to give me credit for the color hun. I thought I would never find anything to match your hair."

Rose blew at the thick straight bang sitting across her forehead. " Don't worry Bree. I'm going to make sure all the credit is given to you for this."

" Oh come on Rosie!"

Two warm hands wound about her bare shoulders and pushed her solidly toward another mirror. Rose squirmed, feeling the soft material brush against her sun bitten skin as she moved.

" I know green was maybe the obvious choice because of your eyes...well the easy choice really, but red suits you just fine surprisingly. And the wedding is in the fall thank the lord so I wont have to try and put you in something pink or yellow." Bree laughed again. " Can you imagine? Now look..."

Her friend twisted Rose's body around so they were face to face. " Why not show off you assets Rose? You back is sleek and beautiful, so I thought why not go backless! And the material hugs you perfectly, and please remember there is nothing wrong with showing off your curves hun. I know the pencil shape maybe a little hard to walk in at first, but once you make it down the aisle, without falling I might add, I really don't care what you do with it after that..." Another sheepish grin. " I think this dress may just be the solution to that dry spell you've been going through hun."

Rose swallowed a laugh. " Which means I have you to thank if I get laid?"

Bree grinned." Exactly!"

The laughter was easy to follow. He had bartered with the retail clerk of the boutique for maybe ten minutes before he assured the irritating woman that he would turn about if he seen anything white and flowy draped about his fiance's body.

" Bree?"

The laughter died away slowly. " Al?"

" I've been ordered to be blind for the next few minutes. Are you in your wedding dress? The lady out front promised me death of unnatural means if I took a peek."

" Come in Al. You can tell my father what your bride to be has me sucked up in."

" Your father has no say in what you're to wear to my wedding!"

Albus took in the scene when he managed to make it through the winding halls of the many dressing rooms he was now lost in. His cheeks immediatley flushed red.

" See?! Even Al thinks it's too much!"

" Albus Severus Potter, if you want a wedding at all you had better tell your cousin how pretty she looks! If I left it up to Rose she'd trot down the aisle in a damn quidditch uniform!"

Albus laughed along with his cousin, still pulling at the dress she so obviously was wishing to trade for a pair of jeans and a tshirt. " Still remember that transfiguration spell Rosie?"

Bree pouted, flicking them both pleading glares. " And that's another thing! Please, oh please, put the wands away for the ceremony at least! All I need is my grandparents having simontaneous heart attacks because one of you decided to set live, dancing fireworks off in the church, let alone change out of that dress while your walking down the damn aisle!"

" I think the stress is getting to her." Rose joked.

Al grinned. " Live dancing fireworks? Darling you should sit down."

Bree growled at them both, before looking to her fiance, a spark of nastiness settled in a pair of charcoal colored eyes. " And what did you do today dear? I thought your mother said something to me about you had wedding business to tend to."

Albus froze awkwardly before both woman. Rose, who was now once more struggling with the zipper on the dress she was confined to didn't notice. Bree however, was smiling sweetly, her hands placed on her hips, a challenge in her eyes.

" Something about you had to floo all the way to the states?"

" The states?" Rose narrowed her eyes against the tangly piece of metal that just didnt seem to want to let her out of her soft prison. " I suppose you went to buy your lovely fiance here another piece of gold for her finger did you?"

" No. I think your mother was going on about visiting someone...but who I have no idea."

" Bree." Albus quipped through clentched teeth. He grinned quickly when he noticed Rose rising from her battle with the dress, her eyes solid on his, her shoulders squared, her face vacant of any emotion but panic.

" Albus."

" Now Rosie..."

"Albus!"

Al stepped back, his hands flying up in his defense. " Bree if you want that dress to see the wedding you had better restrain my cousin here."

" You invited him to the wedding??" Rose squeeked, her cheeks had gone from stark white, to blood red. Her hands were stretched toward the man before her, now backed up against the farthest wall from her. " Albus!? You invited him to the wedding?!"

Bree was grinning too hard. " Okay Rose. Back off sweety. I do want to get married in a few weeks and he's kind of a big part of the ceremony."

" I can't believe you did this!"

" Merlin Rose, he's my best mate! Has been for years!"

" You barely ever see him Al!" Rose ran a trembling hand through her hair. " He barely ever visits! And you want him at the wedding? I mean how did you even get him to agree?!"

Albus must have turned green. He must have blinked with one eye and not the other. He wondered if he twitched. Either way, the damn woman caught it.

" You didn't?!"

" Rosie..."

Bree was already between the two cousins, doing her best to protect the dress still stuck on her friend and save her fiance's crucial organ for pro-creation from castration.

" Damn it Albus! You have James! You don't need him!"

" He's my best mate Rose!!"

" Best mate my ass Albus Potter!"

" Okay! Okay!" Bree shouted over both voices, trying to match the one that was throwing out well thought out insults and bashing when it came to the man she had only ever met on two occasions. " Okay! Rose in your corner. Albus in yours."

" You know I'm the maid of honor." Rose snarled as she backed off from her flesh and blood.

" Get over it!" Albus barked back, his patience wearing thin when it came to Rose and her sore spot. " He is!"

" Albus." Bree snapped.

" I am over it!" Rose spat, tearing at the skirt that wouldnt let her take a running sprint at her cousin. " I would just rather not be in his damn presence!"

" Well get used to it cuz!" Albus ignored Bree's warning glower. " I asked him. He agreed and he's going to be at the wedding. Hell, no time like the present! He's going to be at the party next weekend! He's going to be at the rehearsal dinner! He's going to walk you down the bloody aisle!"

Rose slumped against a nearby stool, her arms crossing across her constricted chest, her breathing coming in heaves.

Bree smacked her fiance neatly in the head.

" What?!"

" Honestly Albus!"

" What?!"

" Rose, I need you to take off the dress now please." Bree approached her friend slowly. " I can't sew pieces of material back together if you shred the life from them."

" Sorry Bree." She got to her feet just as slowly, the fire draining out of her as she did. " I think it's fixable."

" Merlin Rose, what are you going to do? Never see the guy again?" Albus was back on his feet again too. A silent apology floated between both cousins. He smiled weakly when she shrugged as a response. " He wasn't sure you know. Wanted to know if you knew...almost like he was wondering if it was going to be safe for him."

Rose couldn't help the smirk that crossed her mouth as Bree helped her force the zipper down. " And what did you tell him?"

" I lied of course." Albus grimaced at the memory than slumped back against the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets. " Told him you were looking forward to seeing him."

" Oh."

" I think it pissed him off."

An odd feeling spooked her insides so she quickly ducked into the dressing room and closed the doors behind her, before the feeling had a chance to twitch at her mouth. She pulled at the gown again, pulling it over her head and staring blankly at herself once more mirrored back at her.

" Either way it's going to be a crazy few weeks." Bree was chiming away again, this time Rose was sure it was from the lap of her cousin. " This will just add a little more crazy to the mix."

" Nothing wrong with crazy." Albus mumbled, his mouth too busy to speak his words coherantly.

Bree giggled.

Rose wondered when her hips had filled out? She wondered when her legs had shot up, and when she had lost the freckles across her shoulders. She couldn't help notice her bloody chest...and she wondered why she had stopped taping them down? Why hadn't she kept her hair long? Why had she chopped it off?

" Rose pass me out that dress! God only knows what you're doing to it."

She did promptly, giving her time to tear her eyes away from the stranger who was looking out at her from the mirror. How many years had it been since she had seen him? The years scrolled by in her memory. Six? Seven? No. It couldn't be that long.

Rose leaned against one of the mirrors, staring once more at the woman she had somehow grown into. She took another deep breath. Seven years was a long time. If Scorpius Malfoy was okay with seeing her again, than she was fine with seeing him again. They weren't teenagers anymore. She snuck another glance at herself.

Fine. She could do this. Be the bigger person. Walk right up to him and...Rose smirked.

_Punch him! Turn his precious hair orange! No, slap him! Make him eat dirt! Maybe a good kick to the..._

She shook her head violently. No, she was going to shake his hand. Make nice, be polite, watch her through the next few weeks with a bloody smile on her face...

Rose closed her eyes, blocking out her relfection.

They definitley weren't teenagers anymore but for a very small moment, Rose wished they were.

_Okay so this chapter was short, but it's all leading up to something believe me. Anyway, next chapter should be up soon. Review if you like._

_Breeva_


	5. Chapter Four: Sorry I'm late

**Chapter Four: Sorry I'm late**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

**Soooo late. Sorry. I promise to be better.**

The flight was on time. There was no weather delay. There was no sign of cancellation. His luggage was underweight. Security was a breeze.

Everything was working against Scorpius as he boarded the plane that was to take him back to England. At least that was how he saw it.

For the first hour he focused his attentions on his laptop, giving up once he realized the blank screen staring back at him was going to stay that way. He shut it hard, silencing a growl from escaping his throat. There really wasn't much for him to do anyhow, work wise that was. He had taken care of everything before he had even booked the flight, making sure that he wouldn't drive the damn company into the ground while he was absent for two weeks. Unfortunatley, it hadn't taken long to sort things out though. His crew was good, better than good really. They knew what was expected of them and the work that they did represented a company that was paying them more then well to do more then exceptional work. Scorpius had caught a break in that area. Contractors were never hard to come by, but good ones, good, honest, hard working ones who got the job done right, well they were a dime a dozen. Adair Contracting was priceless in his eyes when it came to his employees and he was always grateful for their loyalties to him, even after his grandfather had passed.

Until today. Scorpius couldn't help wishing for something to go wrong. Something, anything that would take him off this collision course with one raging red head.

He reached for the phone before him, mumbling a spell under his breath so he could get away with paying for a call he wasn't looking forward to making.

It rang once, than twice, than three times. He took an unsteady breath. The fifth ring was probably irritating her more than it was irritating him. By the eigth ring, Scorpius was shaking his head and clenching his jaw tightly, warding off a tempting smirk.

On what had to be the hundredth ring, she finally answered, her temper all to apparent in a voice now made of ice. " Hello?!"

" What jerk are you talking to now kid?"

Silence, than a rush of laughter spelled across the receiver. " Scorp?"

" What if their was an emergency? What if I was under a tractor, or stuck in cement up to my neck, or hanging from my boxers off of a scaffold?"

Another burst of giggles. " Well, I would hope you had your wand handy, because no muggle on earth would be able to pull you out of that alive."

Scorpius smiled for what seemed like the first time in months. He glanced out the window squinting against the harshness of the sun as it ducked below the clouds that the plane was cutting through. " You ready for another year at school?"

" Yep, forth year..." He could hear his sister pop what had to be gum. He shook his head again. " Did dad tell you that McGonagall was making plans to move the slytherins out of the dungeons?"

Scorpius didn't get to answer.

" Anyway, all the professors think that we're getting into too much trouble down there. Like were not being supervised enough or something, which I guess is kind of true but that's the way we like it you know? And than they were going on about how sometimes the trolls like to wander up from the forbidden forest because they can smell what the house elves are baking. I told Hugo they're just hungry and that they wouldn't hurt us and he went on about how his dad saved his mom from a troll that had gotten into Hogwarts through the dungeons during their first year and that it wasn't safe and I should be grateful to McGonagall for it..."

He was really glad he hadn't used his credit card for this call.

" Alright Ly...breath will you..."

" Sorry." Another laugh. " So where are you? Why does the line sound so full of static?"

" I'm on a plane...coming home for a few weeks."

"What!?" The shriek peirced his eardrum. He cringed as his sister continued to throw abnormally high pitched questions at him. " Now? Does mom and dad know yet? Why are you on a plane? Why didn't you apparate? Or floo? When do you get in?!"

" Lyra...relax...jeez."

" Dad!!! Mom!!!"

Scorpius extracted the phone completely away from his throbbing ear, while Lyra continued to scream for their father and mother. In seconds he could hear muffled questions, followed by his father scolding Lyra for acting as if she was being attacked by dementors. He listened while his mother demanded the phone from her daughter, already shouting at Scorpius for not telling them he was coming home.

" Scorpius?"

" Hey mom."

" Where are you?"

" On a flight...I should be getting in later on tonight."

From the background he could hear his father asking his own questions. " Why isn't he using the damn floo network?"

Scorpius frowned. He wasn't about to tell his parents that flying was his best bet when it came to making a nose dive into the ocean below him. That would be an easier death than the one he was currently heading towards. It was also an option that the floo network could never offer him.

" Tell dad it was out of service and I wasn't really up to searching for one that wasn't."

He heard a click on the line, followed by a gruff, irritated sound he knew his father was only capable of making. " Why didn't you apparate than?"

Scorpius sighed, running a hand through his hair. " Dad come on...you know I was never the best at apparation. The last thing I want is to end up in the middle of the living room with my leg growing out of my head or something."

Silence followed by a muffled laugh sounded through the static of the phone. " Well, I suppose you're right on that one kid. "

" I'm surprised Albus actually managed to convince you to be his best man." Nora spoke over her husbands laughter.

" Oh so you knew than?"

" Of course I knew. Ginny was worried that Albus was going to leave everything up to James."

" Yeh, well I'm pretty sure James would have been able to handle it himself."

Scorpius cringed when he imagined the frown settling on his mothers mouth. " Anyway, I'm happy to do it." He wondered if his voice escaped the lie he had just told.

" Are you really?"

Somewhere in the house he had grown up in, his sister had managed to find another loose phone and was now more than content at joining the conversation.

" Yeh Ly. I am."

" You don't sound it. You're just worried you're going to see Rose, aren't you? You know you're going to."

" Lyra." When did his tone become so warning? When did has hand turn into a fist? At the mention of her name? More than likely. His body always reacted upon hearing it.

" Lyra hang up the phone."

" No."

" Lyra." His father mimicked Scorpius to almost perfection. Or he was sounding more and more like the man everyday. Damn it.

Lyra ignored the empty threat surrounding her name. " Aside from the fact that you haven't been home since Christmas and we havent't seen you out of that dumb suit and tie from the moment you took that job, this is getting ridiculous. Rose is happy to see you. She told me so when I seen her at Hugo's last week. So obviously all of this reservation you have about coming home because of some spat you two had eons ago is only stuck up your ass, not her's!"

" Lyra!" This was Nora, her voice shaking between surprise and giggles. Draco of course was a little less controlled when it came to the laughter now spilling out of him.

" Alright Ly. I get it."

" No. You really don't get it. All you do is work and brood."

" And all you do is stick your nose where it doesn't belong."

" I'm glad you're coming home so I can turn all your fancy suits neon green!"

Scorpius was grinning now, even though he was sure Lyra was more than serious about destroying the very fabric he had tucked away in his suitcases. " Not before I turn your pretty blonde hair black!"

" Too late!"

" Lyra please stop turning your hair whatever color you please! The neighbors are going to think we're insane!" His mother suddenly sounded more than exhausted from her childrens futile argument. He thought he heard his father agree with his mothers last statement. " And I thought you were going to see Hugo at his grandmothers?"

" I am." Another small silence, followed by a massive sigh. " Listen Scorp. Don't mess it up again. Rose really is happy to see you again. Just try not to be...you know...so you for once."

" Jeez thanks Ly."

" And there called jeans. Wear them once in a while."

He was going to reply, ask his little sister if she knew what the saying _' mind your own buisness '_ meant when he relalized it was just his mother and father now on either end of the conversation.

" She just worries about you hun."

" If she put as much effort into school as she did her brothers love life she might actually make it to seventh year." His father grumbled.

" Draco."

Scorpius blew another breath, before making the decision to hang up before his parents had a shot at asking him about his elusive and imaginary love life." Alright, well this conversation is costing me pretty well the company, so I'll just floo when I get out of the airport."

When he finally hung up, he unfortunatley felt more tense than he had before he had made the call. It wasn't due to his parents strain over his almost always absence, or even due to Lyra and her innocent remarks.

It wasn't due to the fact that the plane was getting closer and closer to the place he called home, but closer to the world he vowed he would never let devour him again.

His wand settled in his pocket almost seemed to poke him at that moment. He squirmed slightly in his seat. It had at one time. The power that he had, that he knew he was good at weilding. He had always been above average when it came to his classes in Hogwarts. Even when he wasn't trying, all the professors had always said he was to be a powerful wizard if he decided to continue his studies after he graduated. And he had wanted to. That had been the plan. Go to university. Graduate. Have his pick of jobs from within the Ministry of Magic or wherever he chose.

It had been. Up until he decided maybe making magic a career choice for him didn't look all the attractive. Up until he accepted the job from his grandfather. Up until Rose Weasley ended their friendship.

Everything happened quickly after Scorpius lost her. He decided living a muggle life, the life that chose him first, was maybe the best thing for him. He got good at ignoring the perks of being a wizard unless it was absolutley necessary or he was just being plain lazy. He got even better at being busy. He became an expert at forgetting to return the messages from his friends and family. He learned to forget the wand shoved into his desk.

He learned to blur the last solid image he had of her from his mind when he was alone at night.

But he had never been able to fully forget her.

And that was why as the plane brought him closer to where he had come from, he could feel all to well again.

It was the feeling of Rose waiting to consume him all over again.

* * *

Rose stood against the door of the bathroom. Her hands were palm down, the skin on her fingers braced hard on the dark oak pressed to the exposed skin of her back. Every so often her breathing would somehow find a way to soften and her lungs would remember how to inhale and exhale. When she heard footsteps of voices coming toward her horrible hiding place though, she found herself struggling to breath and her body instantly doing it's best to block them entrance.

Her reflection was staring at her again, but she did little to meet the fearful eyes boring at her from the mirror.

She hoped that Bree hadn't caught on to her sudden vanishing act. She was sure that she had though. Rose was the damn Maid of Honor after all.

Outside the bathroom, the party was in full swing. Her Aunt Ginny had put together the entire thing and with the help of her mother everything from the food and booze to the table settings had knitted together in such a way that when Bree was finally aloud into the restaurant, she had squeeled at the top of her tiny lungs.

Rose however had missed that. While Bree was basking in awe at her mother in law's ability to co-ordinate a napkin with the wallpaper, she had had her head in a toilet bowl, wretching over the thought of seeing Scorpius Malfoy.

She wondered why she was reacting in such a way. She wondered where all her confidence had run off too. She wondered why the hell she had let Bree coax her into what the damn woman called formal attire. Rose absently pulled at the satin emerald color wrapped around her chest, hoping to hide the the skin that almost seemed ready to pop out if she bent the wrong way. She supposed she was lucky she wasn't forced to wear the dress. Bree had of course given her two options. The first option, a dress that if she wore it, her father would have went into cardiac arrest. The second option, a pair of black pants that came to a snug fit just below her chest, where the shiny piece of material that Bree called a shirt was plastered to.

Rose decided it was the lesser of two evils, but after getting a more than glowing response from some men in attendance at the party she was suddenly unsure of her choice.

" Lesser of two evils my ass." She grumbled. If she just had her wand she could at least change the damn shirt, but Bree had asked them all to leave their wands at home if possible, reminding all the magic folk that her family wouldn't survive it if they saw their soon to be in-laws waving around sticks while toasting the bride and groom. " I'll toast you..."

" Rose Weasley!"

Shit.

" Rose! I know you're in there! I swear to god if you've hopped out that window I'm going to make you wish you had never met me! Keep in mind I'm going to be your family in a few weeks! Which means you're stuck with me for a very, very long time!"

Window? What window?

" Open the bloody door! I have it on good authority that James had his wand confiscated at the beginning of the night and I have no problem with grabbing Albus and using it to blow this door off it's hinges!"

" I don't know if I can do this." Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, but she knew her friend had heard it.

" Of course you can." Bree softened immediatley, dropping her hands away from the door. " I didn't realize that it was going to be this hard for you."

" Neither did I." Her eyebrows narrowed slightly. " I don't know how I'm going to face him Bree. I'm so embarassed."

" Why?"

" It was so long ago. You would think I would have let it go. But I haven't at all. Everything that happened..." Her voice hitched.

Somehow Bree found her way into the bathroom. Upon entrance she could only hug her friend was now leaning against a stall, a curtain of straight hair hiding her pained expression.

" He's probably as sick over this as you are. You know that right?"

" Scorpius?" Rose smirked lightly. " Not Scorpius. Nothing ever bothered him. Nothing."

" Well.." Bree placed her hands on either of Rose's shoulder, a smile claiming place on her painted crimson lips. " I'm sure ...in this get up...you will definitley bother this Scorpius Malfoy."

When Rose barely reacted, Bree hugged her again. " Maybe this isn't a bad thing. Maybe this opportunity presented itself for a reason, like seeing him again will give you some kind of closure finally."

" Maybe." Her voice sounded very far from convinced.

" Now, instead of sulking in the bathroom, how about buying the bride to be a drink?"

Rose forced the smile onto her lips. " Only if you buy me one."

" Maybe two...I think you need it more than I do, even if I am the one getting ready to attach the ball and chain."

They walked hand in hand out of the bathroom, Bree leading the way to the bar that was blocked by her family as well as Rose's. Of course the bride to be had priority over any of her guests and made it quite clear upon their arrival. Apparently, as Maid of Honor, Rose was as well.

" Found her did you?"

" Hiding in the bathroom. Your second...or is it third in command is making her a little tense."

Albus squeezed in between the pair of woman. He winked at Rose who was now drinking soberly from a glass of firewhiskey. " Shouldn't be too long now. Mr and Mrs. Malfoy showed up while you were incognito. Lyra's been looking for you."

" He didn't come with them?"

" Apparently not." Albus stole a kiss off of his fiance. " I'm sure he'll be along soon though. Are you going to play nice?"

" Of course she isn't." Bree laughed. " Do you see what I have her dressed in? She's already playing ball, he just doesn't know it yet."

Rose hissed a curse at both of them, but they were once again wrapped about one another and gaining whistles, hoots and hollers from the entirity of the restaurant.

She shook her head, than took another long drag on the bitter tasting liquid.

" There she is..."

" Rose!"

" Maybe she can sneak us some firewhiskey..."

Rose rolled her eyes before turning to find her brother and his constant companion leading them both through the crowds of people. " I'm not sneaking you anything Hugo."

" Come on Rosie! Just one glass! We'll even share it!"

The blond girl standing next to her brother, rolled her eyes as well. " And my parents wonder why I'm always in detention."

For the first time that night Rose actually laughed. She leaned in to embrace the youngest Malfoy. " Hey Lyra."

" How are you doing?"

Rose blinked. She steadied her expression before pulling away. When she finally did, the fake smile she was perfecting was shaped wickedly on her lips. " I'm great."

She needed another drink.

" Really?"

" Of course." She absently turned on her heel and waved down one of the many bartenders. After another drink was firmly in her grip, only than did she turn back to her brother and Lyra. " Excited for school?"

" A little. It's one more year closer to getting out."

She was in mid sip when the words she had thought too many times popped out of her mouth." You sound just like..."

Rose almost tripped over her sentence. She coughed.

Lyra beamed up at her " I get that a lot."

" I bet you do."

The tinkling of utensils against glass thankfully brought the conversation to an immediate hault. Albus was already sweeping Bree away from the bar and toward the a table that had been designated for the bride and groom as well as the wedding party. At the end of the bar, James, tall and dark and handsome as ever stood with a glass in hand and an awfully smug expression on his face.

Rose leaned back against her chair, contemplating another mad dash for the bathroom.

" Alright! Alright! Everyone settle down!"

Laughter still spilled from the depths of the crowd but after a few hushes and hisses, all was quiet. Well...except for James.

" So, as best man, it has been brought to my attention that I have specific duties that I have to follow through on, and of course to no ones surprise I had no idea!" More laughter brimmed from the smiling faces now all paying attention to the man grinning his way through an intoxicated toast. " Fortunatley for me, my beautiful soon to be sister in law was quick to make sure that I had the play by play. So after a very, very, very long conversation that was mostly a lot of orders and demands..." James winked at Bree who was laughing just as hard as anyone in the room. " I think I may have figured it out. My first duty as best man is to make sure that my dear brother....my dear little brother has one hell of a send off... isn't that right Bree?"

The bride to be nodded from her seat, clapping her hands in amusement when Albus shook his head in embarassment. " Come the big day, I'm to make sure that the hangover he'll be suffering from doesn't show on his pretty face...and let's face it folks.. is there anyone better suited for that job than me?"

Agreement sounded from his audience. Rose found herself laughing.

" Another job description that comes with being best man, is to make the speech." James smirked. Rose was sure she heard every single woman in the room swoon and faint dead away. " I've decided to use this one."

She shook her head and took another sip from the drink that she hadn't realized was helping her relax away the tension from her body.

" That's a joke Sis. Really. I promise to come up with something a little more heartfelt. I remember the threat. Don't you worry."

The laughter gained tempo. Rose felt her head swim with satisfaction. To think a little of James unadulterated humor and a few glasses of firewhiskey was the cure for her stress. What was she worried about anyway. It was one night. It was one night and than she just had to get through the wedding and it was over. He'd go home. She would go back to her life. There was nothing to worry about.

" But really. Bree, on behalf of the family, Al's family, we're more than happy that you chose the little bugger." Sweet sounds mixed with chuckles banked from the crowds. Rose felt her eyes soften against the dim light hanging overhead. " With you standing next to him, he doesn't look all that bad. And Al. Well, you know how lucky you are. I mean, look at her."

More hollers sounded through the hall. Albus placed a kiss on Bree's lips.

James laughed loudly. " He knows."

Everyone raised their glasses. Rose smiled toward her cousin and her best friend.

" Congratulations Al and Bree..."

Her eyes snapped open.

Her hands clamped down on the empty glass between her fingers.

And when she let herself look, when she forced herself to look, Scorpius was staring out over the crowd that seperated them his eyes solid on her's.

" Sorry I'm so late."

_**I haven't updated in so long, but if you're at all following this story I promise to get back at it. Review if you like. Breeva Malfoy (Black...lol)**_


	6. Chapter Five: A Broken Heel

**Chapter Five: A broken heel**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

After the applause Scorpius was surrounded.

He smiled at the people locking hands with him. He accepted the jabs on his back and even let James Potter wrestle with his hair while pinning him under one very large arm. He even managed to laugh when the bride to be introduced herself as _the muggle with the wand.  
_But his attention was elsewhere.

" Glad you could make it Malfoy."

" Wouldn't miss it."

Albus chuckled before passing his friend a cold mug of beer. " Now how come I don't believe that..."  
Scorpius ignored the comment. " Some crowd."

" What can I say. Too many friends. Way too many family members." Albus threw a glance toward his brother, than grinned. " Some we could do without."

" I heard that little brother." James voice roared with laughter from the far end of the room that was becoming more and more crowded by the minute.

The little group that had formed around Scorpius broke into their own amusement. He ran a hand threw his hair and watched the people over his glass, his eyes searching for the one person he was suddenly so interested in seeing again. It confused him. Hadn't he almost locked himself in the coat closet?

" Scorpius." Another hand was in his than. He knew the voice before he turned to meet the greeting.

" Mr. Weasley."

" Scorpius." A softer, more welcoming voice met his ears like bells, followed by an embrace he was a little surprised to receive. " You've gotten so tall."

" Hello Mrs. Weasley."

He pulled away to meet a pair of honey colored eyes, smiling up at him. " How are you? How's work? Your mother tells me you're certainley keeping yourself busy."

He laughed again, keeping his gaze focused on the pretty woman before him and far away from the menacing glower shooting at him from her husband " Well, always busy. Never stops. But it's a good thing. Keeps me out of trouble."

" Or from making trouble."

" Ronald."

Scorpius managed to ignore the threat behind the comment. He grinned. " You're probably right Mr. Weasley."

Hermione glared at her husband who could only shrug, before extending his hand to Scorpius again.

" But, aside from trouble following you everywhere it's good to see you kid."

Scorpius blinked but accepted the handshake. " It's good to see you to. Both of you."

Pacified for the moment, Hermione hugged Scorpius once more and kissed his cheek lightly before linking hands with her husband leaving him to himself for what seemed like only a second.

" So I hope that wasn't your toast Scorp."

He glanced to his left to find Albus there again. " I mean it was some kind of entrance. I think Rose almost fell off the chair she was sitting on."

Her name sent another stab of tension through his limbs. " Keep it up Potter. I'll be sure to give you one hell of a speech when the time comes, full of every nasty little piece of history I can dig up about you."

Albus chuckled and nodded. " I'll try to remember that when you're stuttering through it."

" I thought I told you to leave the tie at home?" Lyra came out of no where as usual, dragging with her an air that only a Malfoy could exude on a room. Scorpius frowned once he caught sight of her and what she had chosen to wear that night.

" I thought I told you wear something more than that thing you call a dress?"

Lyra glanced down the navy blue silk draped around her slim figure. She smirked before pulling a small curtsy in front of both men.

" How did you get that past your father Ly?" Albus made a note to keep his eyes far away from the dress that his best friend was glaring at.

" A coat. My dad's not that sharp sometimes..." Lyra made a face. " Or maybe he was too distracted by what mom was wearing to even venture a guess as to what I was hiding."

Scorpius groaned. Albus laughed.

" So when's the big moment Scorp? Have you got it all figured out yet?"

" Figured what out?" Scorpius went to make a move toward the bar, all too suddenly feeling the need to drink himself into a stuper.

Lyra was quicker though. She always had been. Scorpius dispised her for it. " Still playing stupid are you? I would have at least assumed you had something up your sleeve for tonight. I thought that's what you were doing when you were floating in and out of conciousness at lunch today."

Albus threw an arm around his friends tense shoulders, hiding the laughter threatening to explode from behind his free hand. " Probably consumed with thoughts of the stag James is corrupting us into. Did I tell you he wants to hit up muggle London? The man is going to have us all thrown into the drunk tank by the end of the night."

Scorpius staggered a look at his sister who was of course rolling her eyes. " Stop trying to change the subject Potter."

The three elbowed their way through the crowds slowly, Albus searching for his fiance, and Lyra at her brothers arm doing her best to remind him who was also hiding in the masses of well wishers.

It wasn't until Lyra noticed Hugo getting all to cozy with a brunette clad in something red and dangerously low cut that she quickly excused herself. Albus and Scorpius both laughed lightly as she made her way back through the crowds toward an unsuspecting Hugo all but drooling over the giggling girl.

" Who does that remind you of?" Albus turned toward the bar.

" I can't deny that." Scorpius grumbled into his drink. " But it was never like that for us."

" For you maybe."

His eyes instantly narrowed and shifted toward his friend who was ordering up another round of drinks. " What are you talking about Al?"

Albus shrugged. He slipped the bartender a hefty tip before turning his attention back to their conversation. He did his best to ignore the interest in the blond wizards voice. " Merlin Scorp. Rose had a thing for you all through school. I mean she never said it or anything...but it was always pretty obvious."

" You're deranged."

" Maybe." Albus slid another beer toward Scorpius, his eyes scanning the crowds once more for Bree. He was pretty sure she was doing her best to coax Rose out of her newest hiding place. " After you left for the states though, that was when it became more than obvious to everyone."

He didn't reply. .

" But anyway." Al shrugged his shoulders again. " Like I said before, that's all over now. I mean, I know it's going to be a little awkward to see her again after so long, but you're both adults now right? Make your _Hellos_, and _How are you's _and get through the wedding without killing one another on the walk down the aisle and you'll both survive. Right?"

" Right." He nearly growled.

" Good!" Al slapped him hard on the back. " Now...where has my fiance run off too..."

Albus left him than and Scorpius was all but relieved. He slipped away from the bar, being careful not to jostle anyone that looked even romotely familiar to him, keeping his gaze solid on the path he was making for himself.

He saw a few people he remembered from school and nodded a silent but polite hello as he moved closer to the nearest exit where a few random people were headed for a cigarette or cigar or something stronger. The cold air hit him before the smell of smoke did, but he followed it aside from the fact he wasn't wearing his coat and he had only quit smoking a few years back. It didn't entice him anymore. Only the thought of making a mad dash for the nearest airport did.

Side stepping the smokers he moved farther down the balcony that was wrapped about the restaurant. He could see his breath on the air around him. A shiver ran from the nape of his neck and along the length of his spine when he pulled on the neck of the beer now chilling in his hand.

She had looked good. He frowned. Of course she had looked good. Different. A lot different actually. Not the same Rose he had left standing in her dorm room at Hogwarts. Her hair was shorter, no longer the tangly mess he used to make fun of whenever he was sure she was in earshot. It was sleeker, darker. He wondered if her skin was still flecked with freckles. A tightening in his stomach caused him to shake the thought from his head.

Albus was happy. At least that was one upside to this whole crazed situation he had been cohersed into. And he liked Bree. She was a charmer. Scorpius grinned at his own conclusion. He had always told Albus Potter that the woman he would marry would ask him first. Bree proved him right.

His eyes lingered on the blackness around him. His parents were as happy as ever. It was a little nauseating to see, but not surprising. He really couldn't ever remember a time when they weren't. He grimaced. With the exception of his mother finding out that her son and husband were wizards, plus the hell of a year that followed that discovery, not once had he ever been worried they wouldn't last. After Lyra was born it only seemed to cement that fact even more so.

Secretly, he always assumed it was because his father finally had a biological child. Scorpius could never be sure though. His dad had always made it clear that biological or not, Scorpius was his son, just as Lyra was his daughter. When he was younger it had been easier to believe that. Now that he was older, it seemed insignificant most of the time, but every now and than the thought could and always did pop into his head.

" Damn it!"

Scorpius shifted where he was standing, his eyes snapping to where a trail of wild obsenities were now assaulting the cold air, his thoughts dwindling quickly.

" Shit!"

When a figure basically fell from the shadows that the corner of the restaurant was offering her, hopping on one foot and grabbing at what looked to be a very broken heel, Scorpius instantly moved to help the woman struggling with the thing they all called shoes.

" Miss."

"What!?"

Scorpius stopped dead in his tracks.

Rose tripped and fell.

* * *

He was standing over her, both arms outstretched, his face and his expression shadowed from the light glowing behind him. But she knew it was him. Of course it was him.

" Rose?"

Her stomach clenched. Her face instanly matched the color of her hair. She tried to plaster the fake smile on her lips, but it was useless.

" Jesus Rose, are you okay?"

" I'm fine!" She blurted out, biting down on her tongue hard when her voice came off sounding just as bitter as she felt. She coughed and tried again. " I'm fine."

Scorpius went to help her, to try and take her arm in his hand to stand her upright. " You sure?"

Rose watched him lean in to help her up and just as quickly her body reacted to the gesture. She ignored him as he extended toward her, battling with the one good shoe she did have on at an attempt to at least stand up with little grace she had left.

" I'm fine." She repeated. Her thoughts jumped to the vision of her top exposing every inch of her chest to the man standing before her and her hands followed the assumption quickly. With one hand firmly across her chest, the other gripping a broken and battered shoe she finally managed to inhale a very deep breath and lift her eyes to meet his.

She immediatley forgot to exhale.

She was close to him. Too close. So close she could see the silver specks dancing in a pair of amused glass blue eyes.

" Clumsy as ever I see." Scorpius smirked aside from the fact that his insides were twisting.

Rose fell back a full step now, but not before letting a glower escape on her face. She turned against the wind, balancing against the balcony in an attempt to extract the other shoe. She knew it was going to drop her down more than a few precious inches that she was depending on when he was staring down his nose at her, but she wasn't about to have this conversation standing on a slant.

" How did you manage this now?"

" The heel got caught in the patio."

" I thought you hated shoes." It wasn't a question, but a statement. Scorpius watched her rip the shoe from her foot. He grinned. When her body shot upward again, he found himself taking a step back himself. It wasn't due to the rage now billowing on a face that was all cream and emerald blinking up at him, it was the spike that the woman had clutched in her hand like it was some kind of weapon that reminded him to keep his distance.

" I don't." Rose shook her head, the wind ripping at her hair and sending it across her face. " Well, I do...but I was forced into them."

Scorpius almost reached out and swept the short strands of crimson out of her eyes. He braced his hand against his side before he was stupid enough to listen to his brains commands and simply watched in a sort of awe as she did it for him.

" Bree thinks im her own personal barbie doll."

" Ahh."

Rose nodded. Her eyes looked toward the billowing smoke coming from the people at the far end of the balcony. " Al's really happy you could come. It was good of you."

" Happy to do it." He watched her eyes shift back and forth between what was an escape and his face. " My dad told me you got a job at the ministry."

For the first time, she let herself look up at him for a solid moment. Did he look nervous? Was he nervous? It was hard to read this new face. His features had sharpened, his jaw looked more defined and set. His hair that she remembered was once so long and unkept was now cut very close to his head, the shade of blond somehow blonder since she had seen him last. He had grown up.

He had forgotten to shave.

He looked tired.

Her heart skipped off her chest.

" Department of International Magic Coopertation he said..." Scorpius than realized she wasn't going to be a big part of the conversation, so he decided to do his best with what she was giving him and offer her the answers he really already knew. " It's what you always wanted. Congratulations."

" Thanks...and you...Lyra said you're doing good. Busy."

" Well that's work for you."

Rose nodded in agreement. The silence had time than to creep in over the two of them. Instantly Scorpius began to feel the tension skimming at the surface of his skin again. Rose shook slightly where she stood, the cause of her shivering nothing to do with the cold penetrating her body.

It was too much. He could hear his damn stomach flipping around.

" You've definitley grown a few inches!"

Rose blinked, her mouth forming a straight line." What?"

His own brain screamed at him the same inaudible question.

He studied her for a split second before he realized she was blocking her chest from his view. Her eyes were narrowed. He was sure the spike in her hand was ready to connect with a crucial part of his body.

" Clever." Rose snarled. " Typical as ever!"

" I was talking about your height! Not your chest!" Scorpius jumped in front of her when she went to move around him. " And typical?!"

" Yes! Typical! Now excuse me!"

" Rose!"

Rose growled deep in her throat. " Get out of the way Scorpius!"

" Damn it! Can't you just listen for once in your life! Is it that hard?!"

" When it's you talking!? Yes! It is that bloody hard!"

" Head to head."

" Toe to toe."

" As per usual."

Apparently their painful conversation that had led into a round of loud shouting had dragged an audience out into the cold to watch the drama unfold. Albus and Bree flanked by Lyra and Hugo stood outside of the pair, watching with too much interest and grinning as if Rose and Scorpius were their very own personal court jesters.

" Whose winning?" Albus offered another voice to the brawl about to break out between his cousin and best friend.

" No one!" Rose shouted. Her gaze stayed steady with the wizard before her. Her hand twitched to extract her wand from where she had stowed it under the tight material of her pants.

Scorpius didn't flinch under her stare. He could see the same old flame in her eyes, the same old anger he had been the victim of the day of their graduation.

" Rose!" Bree stepped up and came between the rage now seering between her maid of honor and her fiance's best man. Her eyes almost teared up when she saw the broken shoe clutched in her friends hand. " Your shoe! Look at your shoe!"

" If anyone is typical it's you." Scorpius sneered, his back tensing as he saw his words hit home again across her face. He watched her skin flush an abnormal shade of red. But as always, when it came to Rose Weasley, his mouth seemed to betray his common sense. " If you had any kind of restrain you would have at least been able to have a civilized conversation! But you can't even do that! You, as always have to turn everything that comes out of my mouth into some kind of attack because of some bloody grudge!"

" Look at the heel!!" Bree was grabbing for the broken piece of footwear.

Rose grabbed for her wand.

" Reducto!"

The spell hit his chest like a brick slamming against rock. He landed hard on his back, the balcony shaking under his weight. He lost his breath. He could see stars.

" Jesus Rose!"

" I thought I said no magic!" Bree shouted over the chaous unfolding around the small group of witches and wizards, her eyes shooting to look and see if any of her muggle family had seen the odd altercation transpire between the fuming red head and stunned lanky man.

Albus was already offering a hand to Scorpius, while Hugo had ducked an arm around the wizard in an attempt to plant him back on his feet.

" You okay Scorp?"

" Fine." He grunted, bending over slightly while trying to suck in some much needed air. He lifted his blurred gaze.

Her glower could have melted him where he stood it was so hot.

Her hand was still gripping her wand.

She almost apologized. She almost dropped to her knees and hugged him. But she didn't. She couldn't.

His eyes held nothing but contempt for her now.

Before the tears could find their way away from her hardened eyes and down her ashen cheeks, Rose simply walked away from the man who was once her friend.

She forgot all too quickly she had once wanted more.

_**Ive been a little busy, but here it is. Let me know what you think. Thanks to all of you who added me to your story alert! Thanks!!!!!!! xxxx Breeva**_


	7. Chapter Six: Corruption

**Chapter Six: Corruption**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

" Ms. Weasley?"

She had hexed him. Damn it if she hadn't hexed the breath right out of him.

" Ms. Weasley?"

He had deserved it though. He was lucky that was the only spell she could think of at that moment. Bloody egotistical, smart mouthed, jack ass...

" Rose!"

A pair of very heavy lidded eyes shot open to find her receptionist standing in the doorway, squat against a load of files and papers and the jam that Rose herself had inflicted upon the large framed door in an attempt to keep herself alone and imprisoned for the duration of the day.

" Oh Jillian!"

She jumped to her feet, knocking over more than her share of work that had been piling up over the last few weeks and made it to the very fragile looking woman before the dangerous looking workload in her arms swallowed the tiny thing whole.

Jillian, a timid looking witch with the voice of a mouse and the features of a porcelin doll struggled to empty some of the weight into Rose's welcoming arms.

" Thank you Ms. Weasley. Records just dropped this off not a moment ago and I knew you were expecting them so I rushed them right down to you without even taking into consideration the fact that I'm sure all this weighs more than me."

Rose grinned as she hiked the papers onto her hip. Jillian followed her with the remaining files to the large cherry wood desk sitting in the middle of the bright, but somewhat disoriented office. One eyebrow peeked in a curiosity that the receptionist rarely ever showed on her perfect oval face.

" Busy?"

" Always." Rose glanced about the four walls that had been her own for not even a full year yet. " I guess it shows."

Jillian smiled, swiping a hand through her perfect curls of ash blond hair. " You work too hard Ms. Weasley. I can clean up a little for you if you would like?"

" Please stop calling me Ms. Weasley Jillian. Call me Rose. I swear it makes me feel like my mother..." She thought on that for a moment and smiled lightly at her receptionist who had went about collecting odd papers that were strewn about the floor. " More like my grandmother actually."

" Sorry Ms....Rose."

" And you don't need to help me clean up the mess that I'm living in. That's not your job." Rose slowly pryed her work from Jillians busy hands.

" I suppose not." Jillian let her hands become free of her boss's work, but frowned when she noticed the look of exhaustion on the womans face. " But if I can help in anyway..."

" I'm really fine." Rose noted that she had at least spoken those same words at least a million times since the fiasco that had happened the night before. " And besides the mess will give me something else to focus on aside from all the work sitting on my desk already."

Jillian shook her head, throwing the piles of folders dangerously stacked beside them. " Cole from records, filled me in on what he was delivering to me to deliver to you. It doesnt look like anyone is going to be getting a break from what is presently going on upstairs anytime soon."

" Hows that?" Rose immediatley reached for the first folder she could reach, flipping it open in her hands and letting her eyes skim the contents of the first page.

" The muggle coalation for supernatural and epic phenomenon are into meetings now with the Minister and the rest of the higher ups, which you knew about anywhow." A spark of excitement flashed in a set of deep brown eyes. " Apparently the ministry is in talks to take part in the testings that have been being conducted on the children who are born into non magic families."

" But they already did a study on this years ago." She remembered being in college and sitting in on lectures and debates when it came to what was now a very sore spot between the muggle world and her own. " Why are they rehashing it now?"

More excitement plowed across what was usually such a careful face. " Apparently there has been some incidents inside the muggle community over the years."

Rose glanced about the file she held in her hands. It only outlined the meetings and the areas that the minister and the C.S.E.P were presently in talks about. She shut the folder and quickly reached for another one.

" What kind of incidents?"

" I'm not sure." Jillian scowled at that. " But it seems to be serious. Something about a drop in children and attendance at Hogwarts over the last ten years. Cole overheard Mr. Randolph and the Minister speaking about a cause for concern...something about magic is not to be played with in such a manner."

" So why do they want to do testings on the children? For as long as I can remember there has always been magic that was born of non magic. My mothers parents were non magic. There's always been more than a good percentage of students with muggle parents. Some of the best and brightest are in that category." Rose studied the paper before her again. " There always will be."

Jillian shrugged her shoulders again. " Now that I'm really not sure about. I'm willing to bet it's in one of those thousands of files you have there."

Rose made a noise close to a grunt, her eyes draining the page before her of all the information her brain could absorb. Jillian took this as her cue to leave.

" Do you need anything Rose? Something to eat? Coffee?"

" No, no." Rose waved the woman off, looking up to smile lightly. " Really. It's late anyway. Go home already."

" Are you sure? I could stay and help you sift through the mess that has taken over your desk."

Rose laughed lightly, cocking her finger toward her door. " Go Jillian, now. That's an order."

Jillian smiled and shook her head before closing the door on the woman seemingly pouring over the words in her hands. " You're the boss."

After an hour Rose was wishing she had taken up the offer for a larger than normal coffee. The idea of food however only made her stomach spin in rejection. The folders and files held nothing but example after example of family trees and lines that lead up to one child with magical means, while the parents and parents before them held nothing out of the normal.

She was skimming through paragraph after paragraph before she came across what she was looking for. It was an incident report, much like the reports that were filled out by records when a child was born from non magic parents. It followed their progress over the years, taking note of anything that the child may have caused to happen without his or her control. Most importantly it took great caution and care as to how the parents of the child in question handled the abnormalty that they of course would see it as.

_Elle Marie Loveless_

_Age of incident: 8 Present Age: 15_

_Parents: Thomas Loveless and Nadine Loveless (Muggles)_

_After an outiside study was conducted on the child it has come to light that she is of magic decent. Both parents as well as the lineage that predeceases them both, the ministry of magic and it's branch has come to conclusion that there is no magic within the Loveless line._

_The child has shown a great ability at a young age. Levitation of herself as well as objects about her has been the childs forte. She has also shown a greater ability with apparation, at such a young age, this is cause for concern._

_A trip to a local muggle market with the childs mother, had the young girl dissapearing into thin air before her panic stricken parent and dumbfounded onlookers who immediatley felt it necessary to contact the muggle authorities upon the apparation._

_Our force from the Ministry was already on scene at this time and managed to find the child, not three aisles away from her screaming mother, in the dairy aisle. The child was bewildered of course, but other than shaken, was physically fine._

_The incident however did not relieve the tensions that both Mr and Mrs. Loveless must have been feeling for quite sometime leading up to this day. Upon retreival of their child, she was promptly taken to the local hospital, where doctors of both the mind and body were ordered to do extensive testing on the child. Of course finding nothing, they were than themselves ordered away from the hospital and even offered a handful of testing for the parents in question. _

_After another barrage of uncontrolled magic by the young witch, the parents seemingly at their very wits end, did their own study to find a doctor that we now have all come to know as Samuel Michael Grant. Mr. Grant or Doctor Grant as he is known in the muggle commmunity is of the understanding that the it is a gene or a chromosone within the child and many like her that has caused such "abnomalities" to show itself._

_At this time we are unsure of his methods, but as it is to this day Elle Marie is not a student at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry and never was. The list does not end with this child either. After what can only be seen as a blessing to the parents of Ms. Elle Marie, news of his diagnosis and "cure" spread throughout muggle London as well as the muggle world, and parents of non magic decent with magical children who were stricken with fear and no understanding when it came to their childs abilities, came to Doctor Grant for a help that the ministry itself has no comprehention of._

_The list of children dating from the year 2000 to the present day are not in attendance at Hogwarts or ever have been. They had shown extreme ability with magic prior to their visit with Doctor Grant. Presently, they show known._

Rose let her eyes travel along the lists of names. She turned the page only to find more names. The third page revealed more. After the forth page, her heart sank.

There was hundreds, maybe thousands of names before her. Children who were no longer magic but who had been at one time.

It was unbelievable. Had this gone unnoticed only until recently?

She dropped the work she was pouring over, and tripping over her own feet made it back to her desk where she unearthed her laptop. The screen shot to life immmediatley, all too happy to feel the electricity surging through itself after what seemed like years of hybernation.

Her eyes caught her message box blinking away but she ignored it, just as she had ignored all of Bree's calls that day.

When the search engine popped up she typed in this infamous doctors name, pressed enter and waited.

The name came to life on her screen and she clicked the first thread on the page.

_Doctor Samuel Michael Grant graduated from a private university inside London where he completed a doctrine in foreign studies as well as receiving his MD in psychology, psychiatry as well as medical studies. After graduating with the highest honors he went on to erect his own private practice, but after a year of success, took a few years off to travel and study._

_Within these years he is quoted as saying that he had 'found his calling' and returned back to London an accomplished professor in foreign studies as well as continuing on in his medical practice. He devoted his time to children with ailments that other doctors could not or would not treat due to the absurdity that came with the childrens questionable diagnosis._

Rose narrowed her gaze on the screen.

_Along with being an accomplished doctor and professor, Doctor Grant has always had a keen interest in the biology and chemistry of the body. He has also been quoted in many an interview saying ' the body and the mind hold many a mystery, but the mystery is the adventure and I'm always up for an adventure.'_

Is this what he was talking about? Is this what the Ministry was worried about? Could this man be manipulating the hundreds and thousands of children out of their magic?

An inset of his picture called Rose to click on it.

The pictures clouded the screen, many of him excepting awards for his work, shaking hands with esteemed presidents, queens and kings. There was one with his head bent over too many books, his hair hiding a pair of absolved eyes.

It immediately envolked something in her.

But when the next picture erupted on the screen it was only than that her own eyes peeled away and shot against the people standing with the Doctor in his picture.

The adults were forcing their smiles.

The child was grinning gleefully at the lens as it shot the proper family.

_Doctor Samuel Grant with his late wife and son. He dedicates his work to them and their short lives._

Rose was staring at the Doctor with his family.

Nora and Scorpius Malfoy were staring back at her.

_**Okay so anyone who didn't read The Missing Pieces which is the prequel to this fan fiction, you might want to read it. If not, I can only give you the basics as to how I wrote my first fic. Scorpius was adopted by Draco Malfoy after he married Nora Adair. In the Missing Pieces Nora touches on Scopius "Michael"'s real father and his "demise". I will get into this of course more in future chapters and I promise that this bend in the story has not and will not take away from Rose and Scorpius. Of course it will only make for more drama!! lol!**_

_**Breeva**_


	8. Chapter Seven: Attention Averted

**Chapter Seven: Attention Averted**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and added me to your favs and story alerts. MioneSaysGrrr, darinmeg, Avanell and Chandlje! You have no idea how much I appreciate it. Please keep reading and review whenever you feel the need! Breeva**_

It wasn't out of character for Scorpius to feel the need to apologize to the damn woman. It was what he had always done best and it had always worked with her, but he couldnt help wondering how forgiving she would be now.

He grumbled and bit his tongue off for the rest of the night with Albus and James at his side, drinking whatever he could get his hands on until the idea of Rose Weasley was only a distant memory. It was the way he liked it. It was the way he had lived his life for the past seven years, with her in the background of the noise and confusion that was his life.

The night ended with Albus calling his two best men seperate cabs and sending them home despite the arguments from both wizards. Presently, Scorpius was drinking heavily from a tall glass of water while scowering his old room for his wand in an attempt to miss out on the hangover he seemed to deserve. He gave up after his body screamed in protest, his stomach rolled with nausea and the dizziness he was experiencing threatened to take him out for the rest of the evening.

His father and mother were out, aside from the fact that his dad had argued their impromptu visit to the Potters even while being pushed out the door by his wife. Ginny apparently needed help with an alteration to Albus's suit for the wedding and demanded that Nora bring Draco to keep Harry busy while the two women worked out the seams and sewed them back together.

" She's a witch for merlin's sake Nora! I'm sure she knows some spell to fix the bloody suit!"

" It's her son's tux Draco. She doesn't want to use magic in case something went wrong! Now get your damn coat on!"

Scorpius had breathed a sigh of relief when the gong show that was his parents finally left. To add to the noise, the questions he had no intentions on answering from either his mother or father were on the table when he finally rolled out of bed, and he had little to no patience for them.

Trying to focus on answering his dozens of emails that had been left by Maggie and the foreman of his crew in the end proved useless and he shut his laptop with a staggered curse. He missed his work. At least it kept his mind off of things. Like the next week that was coming up on him like a tidal wave. The thought of it twisted his stomach into one big knot and sent him to the couch where he lay down and tried to vanquish the idea of throwing up from his mind.

He had to make things right, at least for Bree and Albus. He was pretty sure that Rose could at least agree with that sentiment. Be civil, try not to kill each other while walking down the aisle and be all smiles until the happy couple were on their way to Greece. After that, if blood is what she was out for he'd do his best to accomidate that, as long as she was aware that he could give as good as he got and this time he wouldn't be the one being thrown on his ass.

With the tv dulled in the quiet that was now his parents house Scorpius slid into sleep. Even the newest throb of pain that was assaulting his backside couldn't keep his mind from shutting down and his body relaxing into the cusions around him.

Before long he was snoring.

But she was far from his thoughts as they rolled into restless dreams.

* * *

Rose knocked lightly against the door before her, hiding her face behind her hood and hoping to merlin that the same door wouldn't be slammed in her face once it opened. Unfortunatley if he answered it would, that was why Rose was banking on Nora or even Draco to answer the dimly lit door. It was them she really wanted to speak with anyhow. The fact that Scorpius was somewhere behind the glass she was now peeking through was just and added vice to her mission.

The wind skittered around her, dragging at the coat she was hid under. It was cold. Really cold actually. But she wasn't planning on apparating into the home no matter how many times she had done it before. That and the floo network were neither option she wanted to take seeing how she probably was more than unwelcome after what had transpired between her and Scorpius the night before. Rose frowned.

Her hand fisted again, this time knocking a little harder against the colored glass shapes littering the large window of the door.

The picture was the reason she was there. Not to make nice with him. They would be civil to one another for the sake of her cousin and best friend and than once more go their seperate ways. Presently she was more interested in finding out who exactly this man was to Nora and Scorpius. It had to be some kind of mistake...maybe just a coincidence of some kind. Her mind let the picture resurface in her thoughts, the faces of both the mother and the child so far from the coincidence she was hoping for that it brought a sense of dread to her stomach.

Rose always had known that Scorpius was adopted by Draco. She had always thought it made him unique from the her family, and everyone else at Hogwarts. He was adopted by a wizard and than what do you know, he was a wizard himself. The history behind his father and the Malfoy name defintley made for a good story as well, seeing how Draco Malfoy had never really been known for his acceptance of muggle or muggleborns while growing up. Rose had always been facinated by Scorpius and his family, and when Lyra was born it was just another piece of history in the making to add to the mix. Everything that Mr. Malfoy had been taught to hate, was now everything that made up his family. It always seemed like a triumph to Rose. Maybe that's one of the reasons she wanted to be friends with Scorpius from the beginning. He was different and interesting...like a book.

Her frown creased into frustration.

The wind screamed around her again. This time her impatience got the better of her and her fist came down harder against the door as well as ringing the doorbell with her other hand.

It was rude she knew, but she needed some answers. Who was this man? Could he really be Scorpius's biological father? How much would Nora know? Did Draco even know? Rose reminded herself to at least talk to Mrs. Malfoy before addressing both of them.

Rose huffed out an impatient breath. Maybe no one was home. She glanced behind her. The driveway held one car...in the dark though she couldn't tell if it was a rental or the family car. She knew Scorpius was driving a rental, somehow happy with using a vehicle to get him where he needed to go instead of flooing or apparating.

Someone was home. Someone had to be home. She was determined to figure out who this man was and what kind of connection if any he had with Nora and Scorpius...and if it meant standing out there until someone answered the door or came home than she would stand out in the bone chilling air in order to figure it out.

When the light from the porch sprang to life it was only than that she felt the urge to bolt. Especially when the outline of the last person she wanted to see was visible from behind the glass.

The door opened like the lightening that was now springing to life from above her head.

The expression that met her was a mixture of exhaustion and irritation. That along with his hair now sticking off every which way made Rose grin slightly.

" Rose?"

She coughed hoping to hide her amusement with his present appearance." Is your mother home Scorpius?"

He blinked once, the cold air sending a nasty spell of shivers through his body. He moved enough to open the door for her, noticing the same shivers wracking her body as well. When she hesitated he groaned.

" Christ Rose come in. Mom's not home, but it's up to you if you want to freeze to death on my porch."

She watched him move away from the door that he left open and without much thought to the conversation slash fight she was probably heading into, she jumped at the chance to get out of the ice pellets now starting to fall from the sky.

Gripping her shoulder bag that held her laptop as well as the files she snuck from her department she shut the door behind her. It was only than that she realized she really didn't know what to do from that point on. For what seemed like forever she stood in the porch, until his aggravated voice sounded from the living room.

" Look I'm not looking for round two Weasley. The bruise on my ass is proof of that."

Another satisified grin stole across her lips. She somehow managed to shed her boots, falling hard against the wall when one of the zippers caught on her stocking. She sneered when she heard snickering from the room before her.

" You sure about round two Malfoy?"

A muffled laugh answered her. Rose sighed and somehow found a way to bring herself into the living room where she had spent so much of her time when she was younger. Aside from the grown man sprawled across the length of the couch, nothing had changed very much. It was still just as warm and as welcoming as it could be under the circumstances. It surprised her to see the same pictures littered across the far wall, some of the family that lived under the roof and than more and more of Scorpius, and Albus and herself. Some danced and laughed from their frames. Others were still, but just as happy and content from where they hung. For a moment, she lost herself in each and every memory they portrayed.

" Mom never wanted to take them down."

Rose let her gaze slip toward Scorpius. Oddly enough his eyes were shut. " Dad was after her for a while. He gave up once she threatened divorce."

" I don't even remember her taking this one."

Scorpius opened his eyes than, squinting at her through heavy eyes. She was still shaking, her arms wound around her stomach. He noted her fingers were grabbing tightly at the material of her coat. Her hair was a mess of curls now, the weather and the wind doing what it always did when it came to the rage of red hanging against her shoulders. His stomach twisted again.

The picture she was referring to had been taken without either of them in the know. His mother had a tendency to go camera happy, and she was fond of snapping away when no one was the wiser to it. The picture hanging before Rose had been one of those occurences.

" Summer before forth year I think." He managed to sit up, looking past her as she studied the picture a little closer. " Mom said we were fighting..."

" Shocker." She spoke without much thought.

" Agreed." Scorpius stood up, shoving his hands into his pockets. " Anyway, I have no idea about what, but apparently by the end of the argument we were both laughing even though we were still screaming at one another...mom thought it was camera worthy, which meant it was worthy of the wall as you can see."

Rose bent her head slightly to look at him. He was grinning at her. She quickly focused back on the picture. They were laughing. Hard by the look of it. She was sure her skin was red, even though the picture was black and white. A younger Scorpius was bent over slightly, with one hand holding his stomach as tears ran down his cheeks. She looked more composed, but it was defintley soon to break and it did over and over again as the picture played out before them. Their mouths moved through the motions of whatever had transpired before them, and than what looked like apologies were spoken between them before it dipped back into stillness.

" Liam Kindon wanted to date me."

Scorpius was careful not to stand too close to her, but he did stand behind her just enough to notice how calm her face was. " Kindon? That idiot?"

Rose nodded, the faded memory brightening in front of her. " He asked me the end of third year and I said yes."

" He was in Huffelpuff." Scorpius racked his brain for the same memory they had once shared.

" He was going into sixth year. You thought he was too old and..." Rose laughed lightly. " And you thought he was an idiot."

" And that's what we were fighting about?"

Rose nodded, only than realizing Scorpius was standing next to her studying the photo as well. " This was maybe a week before classes started and I came over to make peace with you over the whole mess. You were so mad...that was the first time I think I actually watched you turn redder than my hair and the words that came out of your mouth...." She shook her head in her present amusement. " I think you ended up grounded right after your mom took this picture."

" Why are we laughing than?"

" No idea." Rose smiled than absently, forgetting his close proximity for the moment.

It was a solid minute before she turned away from the memory to face him.

He was grinning. " I threatened to fight him."

" What?"

" I threatened to challenge him to a fight....no a duel actually. To see if he was worthy of you, and if he won, which he wouldn't because he was such an idiot and a lousy wizard he could take you on one date." Scorpius felt the laughter he had felt that day bubble inside him. " And if I won, which I would, you couldn't date him at all and any guy that came your way from that day on would have to undergo a very thorough interrogation from myself as well as Albus or James. Gradually when Hugo got older he would help me pick through the idiots, but I would be the one to decide if the person in question was worthy of you."

" I called you an overbearing toad."

" I told you that you had no taste when it came to guys."

Rose felt the grin betraying her lips. " Obviously. Look at my best friend."

Scorpius nodded, glancing back to the photo. " I remember you saying something like that."

For a moment neither of them said anything. He studied the picture a little harder, studying the people they they had once been. She tried to do the same, but never managed to tear her eyes away from the man now standing next to her.

" I'm sorry for last night."

Scorpius felt his jaw clench, and his eyes peel away from the picture. She wasn't looking at him now, but he could hear the strain in her voice.

" I mean...I didn't mean to just assume you were...well...you know. And I shouldn't have sent you flying onto your butt...so I'm sorry."

" This must be the shortest fight between us in the history of what was our friendship." Scorpius laughed. " Not even twenty four hours and we've made up. Has to be a record Weasley."

She rolled her eyes before taking a seat on the couch. " Don't let it go to your head Malfoy. I'm going to make sure not to give myself another reason to have to make another apology to you."

" Well than this week should prove to be very interesting than."

Rose narrowed her eyes suddenly remembering the files inside her bag.. " More than you know actually."

Scorpius lowered himself into the vacant chair opposite her. " What do you mean by that?"

She glanced about the room again hoping to avert his attention. " Nothing. I just need to speak with your mother."

" Why? What's going on Rose?"

" Do you know when she's going to be home?" She suddenly stood up, realizing just how stupid it was for her to come here without actually knowing what she was going to say or how she was going to approach the subject. It really wasn't her job, but if she could figure out who this man was, who he really was it may just help in the future. Somehow she knew that the future would include Samuel Grant. And somehow she knew it wasn't a good thing.

" No I don't know when she's going to be home." Scorpius was on his feet again. He recognized the expression on her face all too well and it gave him a growing sense of panic in the pit of his stomach. " What's going on Rose? Why do you need to talk to mom?"

Rose watched him stand up as well, rising above her at least two feet. He was always taller than her and he always used it to his advantage. This time was no different, only this time she felt herself unable to dodge his questions with meek answers only a teenage boy would accept. It was only than that she noticed how grown up he was and in more ways than just one. As he blocked her only route for escape, she noticed the change in his expression, the sharpness that lay there from concern for his family...or something else. His jaw was set tighter and his eyebrows were drawn tightly over a storm of now darkening blue...

Scorpius caught her eyes with his, the golden green there faltering under his stare. " Are you going to tell me?"

" I'd rather not." Her voice was soft, and slow spoken almost as if she was trying to be cautious with her words. " I'd rather speak to your mother first."

He watched her take a step away from him. Her hands seemed to flutter to the buttons on her coat. She turned her face away from him, enough time for the mess that was her hair to fall against her cheek.

" And you'd rather not speak to me?"

Her hand tucked some of her hair behind her ear. She was biting her bottom lip." No. I'd rather not."

Scorpius felt his mouth run dry. His mind clouded quickly. It was unusual. But it happened.

Something slid through his body when he caught sight of her perfect white teeth, clawing at her perfect pink lips. It was slow enough. It took it's time, all that heat travelling from his every limb finally colliding inside his stomach where suddenly all of the twisting and turning faded into a dull throb. His hands clenched at his side, while his breath caught slightly in his throat. He tried to step back.

Rose looked at him for the smallest second. It was just to see if he was holding back his anger from her. Maybe it was just to see how red he could really turn before he exploded from the inside out. He did look odd. Smoldering actually. She felt a grin prick at her mouth. It was funny how she still had that effect on him, the ability to piss the poor guy off just by keeping secrets...he might look older but the maturity level was still there...and it wasn't a secret. She would tell him. Just at the present time....

" We were never really good at conversation were we?"

Her eyes wandered back to his. When did he get so close to her?

Rose blinked once, the grin that had been playing on her mouth not seconds ago suddenly draining against her flushed cheeks. " No. We weren't....but..."

" Agreed."

She tried to say his name. Tried to open her mouth for the words that suddenly seemed to lose themsleves on her tongue. But his hands were in her hair. His chest against hers.

And his mouth was pressed hard against her frozen lips.

_**Well. Review if you like. I hadn't intended to write this chapter this way or have it end this way. But hey, they were alone in his house. Close proximity. It doesn't mean all is well....LOL...things are far from well....continue to read. Breeva**_


	9. Chapter Eight: Frayed

**Chapter Eight: Frayed**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

There was a reason for everything. Of course there was a reason for everything. It was very simple. Everything had a cause just like to that cause there was a means. He believed there was something to that saying. It had stuck with him for many years. It had been his constant when he was struggling through high school, through the mindless banter from his classmates, through the endless drama that enfolded around them daily. When he was studying abroad, or when he was a visitor within a foreign country he lived by these words. When life in general had come to a slow standstill and his bed and his books had become his closest source to a comfort from the insanity that threatened to drag him to an early grave, those few words had stuck with him.

There was a reason for everything.

The man sitting behind the larger than normal desk, peeled his glasses off and rubbed at the brim of his nose absently. The night outside had turned bitter. He glanced about his study, seeking out another source of light in case the power decided to go. A string of candles still stood atop his fireplace that was unlit. The soot looked blue in the shadows of his lamps that hung overhead. He tried to remember the last time he had sat before the warm herth with a good book and an even better brandy.

His thoughts traced back to the mission at hand. He was sure that there was a flashlight somewhere in one of his desk drawers. He replaced his glasses as he opened each individual set of oak drawers. Everything was organized as it should be. Tagged and color coded and alphabatized. It had to be that way of course. If it wasn't he was quite sure he would never be able to keep track of any of his work and that just would never do.

He searched through the perfect files, his long white fingers being careful not to disrupt their place. It had to be there somewhere. He was not a man with a forgetful mind. This only made his mouth upturn into a small smile. If anything his mind was that of a sponge. He absorbed everything and his brain had a place for everything and anything that was of importance to himself as well as what he saw as importance to the world around him.

In any case he knew the flashlight was where he had put it. Bottom drawer. Stuck close to the back. When he opened it he grinned even harder to find the little black piece of technology caked with dust.

The triumphant grin faded when he found what it was next to. And that he hadn't forgotten as well.

It was just left better where it was.

But even as he thought the words he felt his fingers grasp for the brown colored envelope.

He breathed a deep sigh as he settled himself back in his chair, slowly removing the papers from the prison he had made for it so many years before. Now laying on his desk he let his eyes travel over newspaper clippings, photos. He picked at the frayed edge of one picture impaticular. He was younger than. His hair was a shade darker than blonde, he was without his glasses even though he always preferred to wear them. Anyone who looked at him would have said he was a handsome man. In his hands he held an award he had received for his work in India the year before. It had been a long year, one where he saw alot, where he did alot, and where he learned alot. He had earned that award, the one that was now fitted between his other gold and silver trophies standing side by side scattered about his study and his home.

It was an award he barely spoke about though. In interviews when asked about this paticular trophy, the question always went unanswered and usually the interview was ended. He studied the photo before him again. It was the only picture that had ever been taken of this award. It was the only picture that had ever been taken of them.

His eyes drew them in...his main focus on the boy. The child seemed happy. Smiling, holding that frog that he seemed to be so apt to when he was born. Blonde and blue eyed. So little like his mother. He glanced at the very young woman who was on his arm in the photo. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Nothing special. Nothing special until she told him she was pregnant with his offspring. His son.

But how unhappy was she the day this picture was taken. The woman was never good at hiding her true emotions. Her smile was set in place like a glass doll but her plain eyes were sad. Empty.

He remembered her happy at one point. It was before the child was born. Not that she wasn't happy when she became a mother. She doted on the baby. Loved him so very much. Loved being a mother. But there was something about the child and it was no secret within the walls of their home. He was different. From the moment he could lift his small hand, the both knew that their son was different. Odd.

That was how he saw it anyway. His wife used words like _unique_ and _special. _He disagreed.

And that was when Maria stopped smiling.

He lingered on the small boy again. Odd. Different.

The child was to be protected than and it was Maria's job to do so. From his own father? He didn't think his questions and his studies when it came to the boy was anything different than disecting a foreign species of plant or animal. His son was one big question mark.

How did he make things float about his crib? How did he turn that damn stuffed animal into a reptile with a beating heart and slippery skin? How could he summon his own bottle to his bed when no one answered his cries?

He let the picture slip from his fingers. He opened another larger envelope, this time unfolding the fresher piece of paper with more vigilance. It showed his work over the years, his math, his chemistry, his work when it came to the biology of the body. It covered the ethics of space and time, of black holes, of the possibility of life on other planets or even this planet. It was a tumble of words and number and scribbles and drawings that only could ever make sense at the center of his work, of all his thoughts and hypothesis was his son.

Three years was not enough time with the child. Three years was only scratching the surface of how to cure his little boy of what ailed him. But in those years it was long enough for the rubber to be set fire in his brain. It was enough to form questions and seek out the answers. It was enough time to form suspicions and find the right people to help him prove them right.

Now, Samuel Grant had his answers. He had proved all the skeptics wrong. He had helped so many children who were just like his son. He had cured them with his human hands...and in them now he held something so much more powerful than knowledge.

His mouth was set firm when he picked at the picture again.

He could have helped Michael. Maria would have smiled again. Things would have been set right. She begged him to wait until his third birthday. Begged and pleaded with him not to use him as if he was a guinea pig. He argued that the child would feel differently when he became older and took great responsibility for being the one to help millions of children just like himself. She fought him on it. She just wanted more time, just time to prepare him, just a little time to make him understand what was going to happen.

So they agreed. After the boy turned three.

After the boy turned three he would be normal.

Samuel shifted in his chair, slowly replacing the pictures and all his work back into it's envelope. He slid it back into the bottom drawer, leaving the flashlight just as he had found it as the lights above his head began to flicker.

The child never did get to turn three however. He never did get to be the first. Just before his third birthday Maria decided to take Michael to the park to feed the ducks. Samuel always supposed it was to try and explain to him what would be occuring in the next few days, what a great gift the small child was about to give to the world with the help of his father.

They were killed before they made it to the park. A drunk driver apparently. It was a hit and run. He found himself in the hospital morgue, staring at the remains of what was his wife and son. Why he looked for some kind of life from the boy he didn't know. But he did. He stood over the burnt corpse of his flesh and blood waiting for his little hand to lift away from the metal slab it was frozen on and perform his magic. But it never happened.

The lights shuddered again this time falling into a cold darkness.

Samuel moved to the fireplace where he found his candles in the dimness. The fireplace still stood just as bitter as the night, untouched and brittle. The room quaked in the blackness.

And with a wave of his own hand the candles were lit and the fireplace sprang to life.

The boy was once the question mark. Samuel Grant was now the answer.

* * *

He didn't mean to be so forceful. He didn't mean to be so rough. He definitley didn't mean to snap at her bottom lip when he felt her finally react to what he was doing to her mouth.

How his hands got tangled in that mess of hair, or how he found himself backing her hard up against the wall behind her...well that just really wasn't worth answering at that point.

When her arms finally found a brain of their own and wound about his neck there was very little he could do to stop himself from acting on every little vision he had scorching the most darkest parts of his brain.

Her skin was hot. Her jaw was soft when he let his lips skip across the skin there. When he found his way to her lips again he was more than surprised to find her lips more than willing to meet his again.

He didn't mean to growl when she offered herself up to him like that. It wasn't like her. It wasn't like her at all to act like this. It wasn't like her to have her hands kneading at his tshirt and her soft skin drifting across his abdomen in a way that sent something more than dangerous through his system. It wasn't Rose.

Rose.

His Rose.

Scorpius pulled away sharply, instantly turning away from her.

He had to. If he was to look at her, he knew what he would see. A beautiful willing woman pretty well plastered against the wall, her hair, all that hair that smelt like bloody flowers a glorious mess around flushed skin and a swollen pair of lips and a pair of eyes that were hypnotic...

His stomach turned with lust. He ran a hand through his hair.

Rose tried to close her mouth. It was hard though. Her bottom lip was bleeding. Her eyes widened when she noticed the small amount of blood against her fingers. But that was the least of her worries. She was wondering when her heart was going to explode from her chest, or when her legs were going to fall out from underneath her. It was really only a matter of time. Her skin was on fire. Her jaw was tingling. And she couldn't close her damn mouth.

" I'm sorry."

" It's okay." She managed as she let herself release from the wall she had just been basically pinned against not moments ago.

" No Rose. I'm really sorry."

" It's okay." All she had to do was make it to the door. She remembered her boots. There was no way she would be able to put them on without passing out. All the blood was anywhere but her head at that moment. She would pass out if she even tried to struggle with the damn things. Apparate. That really was the only option. Quick. Painless. That was until she had to see him the next day. Her stomach was already making twists and turns at the thought.

The door was so close. Just another step. One foot in front of the other. She could do it.

" Rose." And his hand was on her arm. The skin screamed under his touch. Her heart seemed to make itself known as well. Rose was just waiting for it to pop out of her ribcage and land at his feet.

Scorpius blinked when he caught sight of the blood smeared across her bottom lip. " You're bleeding."

" It's fine. It's just a cut."

" I did that."

" Scorpius stop. I'm fine." She pulled slightly on her arm, willing him to let go before she acted on the thoughts polluting her mind. " Please. Really."

" Just let me look would you!" Scorpius tightened his grip on her when he felt her struggle with him.

" It's fine!"

" Stop being stubborn...it's really bleeding!"

" You'll be really bleeding if you don't let me go!"

It was than that he dropped his hand away from her arm. Rose huffed, pulling out her wand. Scorpius cringed and fell back a few feet. She rolled her eyes. " You forget you're a wizard sometimes don't you Malfoy?"

With a flick of her wand the blood was clean from her skin, and the only sign that there had been any damage done to her lip was a small white scar that would fade in the days to come.

He grumbled something incoherant and she left it that way. Her eyes scowered the room for a second before linking back to his that hadn't left her since he had managed to take another look at her.

" It's fine. Okay. Really it's fine. No harm done." Rose breathed in and bent down to retrieve her boots from the floor. " For the sake of Bree and Al we've got to find away to get along for the next week okay? Civil right? It's their wedding. If it was anyone else's I wouldn't really mind destroying it but it's my best friend and cousin and your best friend so we might as well figure out away to be in the same room without killing one another...or doing that again."

Scorpius nodded slowly.

He was watching her from the corner of his eye. His head was bent slightly. His hand slowly ran across his face.

" Okay? Agreed?"

He nodded again.

" Good." Her body temperture was going to send her to the hospital. " Good. Okay...well, I'll see you tommorow."

He could only nod his head again.

" Okay." She opened the door. The chill met the heat wrapped up in her body. " Night Malfoy."

The door shut behind her.

Scorpius struggled for his breath that he couldn't quite catch.

* * *

" He what?!"

" Shit Bree..shhh."

" He kissed you?!"

" Bree!" Rose snapped. Rage flashed across her face. " Please. It was nothing okay. It was a mistake."

" What were you even doing there?"

" I wanted to speak to his mother, but she wasn't home...it wouldn't have happened if she would have been there."

Bree sat back against the pew she was seated in. Rose was ahead of her, doing her very best to keep her gaze on the flowers that were being dragged into the church for the wedding in a few days.

" His mother? Jeez Rose...after what you described I would have been thanking my lucky stars that the woman wasn't home."

Rose rolled her eyes. The men setting the flowers up at the front of the cathedral were presently being yelled at by the wedding planner a very small, fat woman with a tight bun of hay colored hair sitting at the very top of her head. She was dressed emaculately even though the expensive material wrapped about her jolly frame was begging for it's release.

" Shouldn't you intervene Bree?"

" Ms. Dupree has it under control. Besides this is much more interesting than were my flowers are going to be set up."

Rose watched her best friend snap up the seat next to her. The smile across her crimson red lips was that of mischief and it made Rose anything but comfortable.

" It was nothing."

" Doesn't sound like nothing. Sounds to me like the man almost had his way with you up against the wall of his living room."

" Bree for the love of merlin! You're in a church!" Rose breathed an unsteady breath. Why was it she could still feel his hands on her, just...everywhere. " And it wasn't like that!"

Bree was laughing. She had pulled her friends hand into her own and was patting it with her own little amusement that only made Rose feel like a child being told about the birds and the bees.

" Oh hun. You're the most honest person that I know. With that in mind I know that what you told me, well it happened pretty much exactly word for word." Bree laughed lightly. "And what happened was the man was ready to have his way with you up against a wall."

" Ladies."

Rose almost fell from her seat. Bree managed to swallow the laughter that was once more ready to burst from her grinning mouth.

Albus stood over his fiance and cousin, his expression blank and a little confused.

Scorpius stood next to his friend. His skin was flushed. His eyes instantly found refuge at the head of the church where a small woman with sharp, long nails was pointing one dangerously at a beef of a man holding maybe three dozen roses in his huge arms.

" What's so funny?"

Bree bit the inside of her jaw when she felt Rose tighten her grip on her hand. " Ms. Dupree is having her way with the delivery men."

Rose could have thrown up at her choice of words but instead chose to nod in agreement.

" Oh." Albus didn't look convinced but he shrugged and planted a kiss against Bree's cheek.

In that small moment, Rose stole a glance at Scorpius. He looked odd. Paler than usual. Stressed?

" So it looks like were the first one here than." Al slid into the pew next to his fiance, sliding an arm about her shoulder. " You know we could still elope dear. Extend the honeymoon a little. I'm sure they would thank us."

He nodded toward the delivery guys. Another man had joined the useless argument between Ms. Dupree and the beefy man. All three of them were a dangerous shade of red.

" And Ms. Dupree would probably pop a seam." Bree hissed.

Albus laughed. " Like I said. The poor guys would thank us."

The couple laughed together. Rose could only be thankful that for the moment Bree and her attentions were elsewhere. As for her own attentions, they were wavering between escape and the man still standing over her. At least he looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

A few moments later the small church began to fill with families from either the bride or groom. There was too many people to say hello to and too little time to make sure she wasn't coming too close to him in the mess of people that surrounded her.

Rose nodded and smiled as introductions were made.

Somewhere in the mass of people crammed into the little building, Scorpius was doing the same.

Bree of course did her very best to introduce Rose to any available male cousin she could muster up while making the rounds, making more sure that her voice was loud and clear as it travelled over the heads of everyone about them, hoping that her matchmaking skills would find the blond wizard somehow.

After what could have been hours but was only minutes the rehearsal got under way.

Everyone took their seats, while the pastor introduced himself to the crowds of well wishers, making remarks about how the day should in fact play out but just how it probably wouldn't go the way they expected at all. When the balding man started to talk about how a wedding was a lot like life in general Rose felt her mind finally begin to relax.

She stood at the back of the church where she had been directed to be. Bree was still at the front, listening intently to the words her family pastor was rehearsing for her special day. Albus sat near her. Rose was sure he was more inclined to rest his head on the backrest and snooze the next few minutes away, but knew if he wanted to keep that head he would sit up straight and at least look interested.

Rose covered her mouth when she felt the urge to laugh.

It died away in her throat when she found Scorpius walking toward her.

" We need to talk."

" Right now." Rose whispered, keeping her eyes directly on the audience before her.

" Yes, right now." His hands clenched in his pockets.

" Right now isn't a good time."

He took a deep breath. " Good of time as any."

She felt his hand in her own, tried silently to pull away from his tight grip, than gave in when she saw the stairs they were desecending. She decided for her safety as well as the safety of the heels she was wearing on loan from Bree, a stuggle could and would only prove disastrous and gave in to the man now leading her away from the eyes and ears of the dozens of onlookers.

" I can walk you know!"

" That's debateable."

Bree managed a short breath. " Let me go!"

Scorpius growled. " Fine!"

He did.

She tripped on the last stair.

Of course he laughed. It was what she felt first seeing how she of course had no where to go but directly into his waiting arms again. The moment he caught her from falling onto her face, she felt his chest vibrate with laughter and soon after his mouth lose control over the chuckles now echoing through the basement of the small church.

" Merlin Rose."

" Shut up." Her hands struggled with him once more, this time in an attempt to get herself free of the arms she suddenly felt so hot wrapped up in. She straightened up, grabbing at the skirt she had been forced into earlier that morning. Grabbing a handful of her curls that had fallen from a clip she had forced them back into, she picked her eyes up to look at him. " What do you want Malfoy?"

He was still laughing. It wasn't until he caught sight of her flashing green eyes that he got himself under some kind of control.

" Well!? What is it?"

" Sorry. You got to admit that was hilairous."

" Ha ha. Priceless."

Both of her hands were battling it out with her hair that just seemed determined to fall down around her neck. She looked flustered, angry. He was careful to take a well thought out step back from her and it wasn't for his safety.

This time he was more worried about hers.

" Look if you're just going to apologize again for whatever happened last night I don't want to hear it. Let's just forget about it."

" I wasn't going to apologize again Rose."

Her eyes narrowed when she felt the tug of her hair as it connected with the pin. She would never get it all back up there. It was going to look like he really did have his way with her when they both finally made their way back upstairs. She felt her stomach lurch.

" Well what than?"

She waited and watched as he reached inside of his pocket. When he revealed what his fingers were extending to her she forgot to accept it. Instead she stared at the picture while her mind reached for an explanation that she couldn't form on her tongue.

" Is this what you wanted to talk to mom about?"

Her hand lifted from her side enough to take the photo she had scanned off of her computer and than so carelessly stuck in the pocket of her coat. It had to fall out when he kissed....in the chaous. She was distracted after. She didn't even look for it...

" Rose?"

She swallowed.

" What is this?"

Her brain wouldn't work. Her words were tangled with the lies she so desperatley wanted to tell. Had she ever lied to him? Maybe once....and he didn't believe her. He wouldn't believe her now. He saw through her when they were younger, would he still see through her now?

" Rose...why do you have a picture of my mother?" He was studying her face as he spoke. " Rose?"

Her eyes shot about the room. Her hands peeled at the edges of the paper. Of course he would. He probably could see her contemplating the damn lie.

" Jesus christ!" He snapped, snatching the picture from her hands. " If you won't bloody tell me I'm sure my mother will be able to!"

" Scorpius!"

His body turned on her like the crack of a whip. A mixture of concern and frustration plagued his vision. " What?!"

" The little boy in the picture is you."

He breathed deeply, trying to not crush the picture between his clenched fingers. " And the man?!"

And than he watched her step toward him, her hand reaching for the picture that was gripped in his palm. Her eyes stayed level with it as she smoothed the wrinkles from the faces of the strangers that now stared back at him. She passed it back to him. She lifted her gaze to meet the same storm she had seen the night before and in that moment she saw the answer to his own question in his very eyes.

" I think he's your father."

But the words had to be spoken for Scorpius to hear them.

_**Thanks darinmeg! So glad you're enjoying it and just for you I decided to prolong the little kissing scene a little longer. lol. Keep reading! Breeva**_


	10. Chapter Nine: Secret

**Chapter Nine: Secret**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

_**Sorry for the wait guys. I was slightly sick with an infection in one of my wisdom teeth and needless to say I was put of commision for the better part of a week. All better now though. Reveiw!**_

Scorpius found himself walking away from her. It was involuntary, but he did. He mounted the stairs of the church basement two at a time, the picture gripped between his fingers once more.

Rose watched him go. It took nearly a full thirty seconds for her to actually beg her feet to move and than she was after him, one step to his two.

" Where are you going?" She hissed as the staircase wound upward.

" Where do you think."

" Scorpius stop."

He was above her when he did, but only to look down on her from the bend in the staircase. His eyes were a swarm of emotions, so much so she could barely tell what his blank expression held.

" Why do you think he's my father?"

" I...he...." Her brain skittered about, as it tried to retrieve the vital information that she had read off the screen of her computer not days before. " That is your mother! And that kid looks an awful like you...I have seen your baby pictures remember!"

" So that's all your going on than?" Scorpius turned about, and took a step toward her this time with the picture held out for her to have another look at. The panic that was ripping at his insides had sent a sweat now crawling up and down his spine. His hand shook as it hung in the air. " Because this kid looks like me!?"

Rose blinked at the picture again. There was no doubt in her mind that the little boy was Scorpius. A mess of blonde hair. Blue eyes. He had that lopsided, silly grin on his face that if possible he could still mirror even at twenty four.

When she lifted her gaze to meet his again, he growled deep in his throat.

" This is why I wanted to speak to your mother first."

" My father died Rose. You know that." He folded the picture quickly into his pocket, turning as he did. " And if that is me, there has to be some kind of explanation for it."

" Scorpius."

" What?!"

Rose fell back one step, realing from the rage blinking at her now from the black storm turning in his eyes. Her hand fisted on the railing while she took the same step forward again finding it hard to keep her gaze even with his.

" When I found this picture, it said that the woman and the boy in the picture were in fact this man's wife and son." She took an uneven breath. " But they died."

" You two!!!"

She was the only one to look toward Ms. Dupree as she waddled her way toward them both. Her finger was held dangerously straight, almost as if it was a weapon of some kind.

Scorpius didn't linger from Rose's face, her words stripping at the insides of his chest all over again.

" You do know that you're part of this wedding, do you not?!" She never gave them time to answer. Her pawlike hand was already grabbing for Rose and than the other was pushing Scorpius toward the doors to the cathedral. " And if you try and pull this on Saturday, god help you both! Now you...!"

Rose was forced to stand before a large set of blackened doors that lead to the church and the audience that awaited. The tree trunk of a woman even pulled at the mess her hair was in, blowing impatient breaths as her curls battled it out with the daggers on the ends of her fingers.

" I suppose that will do for right now...." She glanced Rose over slowly before turning on a blank looking best man. " And you! Stand here..." She blew another long breath, rolling her eyes as he did so keeping his distance from the red head next to him. She grabbed at his arm and in a few seconds had pulled both Scorpius and Rose together in the most abnormal looking stance. But Ms. Dupree was pleased. " There! Wonderful! Now all you have to do is walk down the aisle, take your places on either side and smile! Can you do that?!"

Once again there was no time for either of them to answer the bustle of nerves that this woman was exuding. Her catlike eyes had moved on toward James Potter who was hiding behind a very black pair of sunglasses. The woman already on his arm, Bree's much younger sister Evelyn was giggling at something the wizard was whispering about while blushing toward Rose and Scorpius in a very obvious manner.

Rose could only listen while she reprimanded James for smelling like alcohol and berating a swooning Evelyn for her lack of control when it came to the amusement spewing from her mouth. It was only a moment though before her thoughts turned back to a very rigid Scorpius who was now linking arms with her.

" Scorpius."

" Is that what it said?" His eyes were glassy now and staring at the door before them both.

" Yes."

" Why were you looking for it?"

Rose huffed. His arm tightened on her's. " Do you really want to get into this right now? Really?"

He said nothing. Rose shook her head.

" Okay, now when the music starts we want you two....Rose is it....and your name young man?"

" Scorpius." He grumbled.

" Ahh..." Her eyebrow lifted for a small second than she continued on with her direction. " Well, Rose and Scorpius will walk first. Not too fast, but not too slow. By the looks of you two I would think your problem would be walking too fast as it looks like you're both in the most dreadful pain right now...be mindful of that..."

James laughed openly. It got him a hard slap to one of his biceps from the deranged planner. " And you two...."

Her orders went on, until the music began and the rehearsal finally got underway again.

They said nothing as the doors opened up to a soft melody that consisted of violins and the keys from a piano. Rose tried to smile. She wondered how painful it would actually be come saturday...she wondered if Scorpius would even stick around that long...

Her hand tightened on his forearm.

Scorpius felt her nails dig into his jacket harder than they already were. " Jesus Rose..."

" Tonight after the dinner..." Was there panic in her voice? Was it showing on her face? She coughed as she tried to smile through the surprise tension now surfing through her system. " Can you meet me at the Ministry? I'll tell you what I know even if it's very little...." Her eyes grazed to meet his stonelike stare. " I just don't want you to go to your mother with this until I'm positive. Okay? Please?"

Rose watched something unfamiliar flicker behind his pulled expression of nothing, but they had reached the end of their long walk and he was seperating her grip from his flesh.

" Scorpius?"

" I'll meet you after dinner." He repeated the words she had just spoken, than took his spot next to Albus who was watching them both with interest.

Rose did the same.

Their eyes stayed anywhere but each other as the bride walked down the aisle.

* * *

The dinner was held shortly after the rehearsal had let out.

It was something of a garden party, with white lamps and even whiter lights hung about the massive trees that sheltered the Potter's backyard. Tables and chairs littered the grass where people were now seating themselves with a drink in hand and a plate of food in the other. Once again the atmosphere was well put together. The air breezed about the guests, who laughed and chatted amongst themselves every now and than someone demanding that the groom kiss his soon bride to be.

Rose smiled after her friend and cousin when they obliged their family and friends happily. Bree had gotten what she wanted. A full week of celebration, with herself and Albus in the middle of it all. She studied her friend from where she stood, now shadowed from the commotion going on before her. Bree was happy. So happy she actually seemed to glow under the lights blinking overhead like the stars in the sky. Albus was happy too. He had eyes only for his fiance...his bride....his best friend.

The passing thought sought an empty place out in the pit of her stomach and she quickly shifted her heels from one hand to the other in order to drink from the glass of vodka she had poured for herself.

Her parents were there in the midst of the party, seated near her aunt and uncle who were seated near Bree's father and mother. Her Aunt Ginny looked about ready to swat her eldest child in the head when she caught sight of a wand being produced, but one look from his mother and James was quick to hide the piece of magic inside his coat pocket.

She watched her brother gingerly swinging back and forth on the hammock a few feet away from the trouble that had almost insued, an obvious boredom across his tired features. He yawned than slumped against the rope rolling his eyes when his Aunt Ginny stayed where she was and James was let off the hook.

Draco and Nora had been invited of course. There wasn't many times that a function of any kind was held and they weren't, but as it was Nora's mother was in town for a day or two and both parents as well Lyra had been roped into dinner for the night.

Hugo was missing his partner in crime, but Rose couldn't help be grateful for the Malfoy's absence. By this time the sullen looking figure that had taken up space near the bar and hadn't moved in maybe an hour would have probably already spoken to his mother about the picture he presently had stuffed in his pants pocket.

Rose took a deep breath, her thoughts lingering as she continued to stare at the back of a bent blonde head.

She hadn't let herself think about it much. It was difficult to understand. Scorpius Malfoy had kissed her before of course. On the cheek. On the forehead. Once in second year he had been forced into a game of spin the bottle that ended with his mouth stiffly on hers. But last night he had kissed her. And quite hard at that.

What was he thinking? What was she thinking? Was she thinking at all? After the intial shock melted away from her body there was nothing she really could do but reciprocate him. Of course if she had of been thinking she would have pushed him off of her and demanded he never lay his lips on her again. She would have left his cheek bearing a flashing red print of her hand or another precious area a victim of her knee.

Her hand absently touched her mouth even as her thoughts of violence towards her former best friend wound their way about her mind. He at least deserved that after he decided that her bottom lip fit perfectly between his teeth.

Rose blinked. She shoved her hand deep into her coat pocket and drank stiffly from the cup she was nursing until the muggle alcohol was gone.

After an hour she decided to say her goodnights. With the effects of too much drink having it's way with her modest self, her family as well as Bree agreed that a good nights rest wasn't the worst thing in the world for the slightly intoxicated witch.

Scorpius however had different plans and in an effort that was seen as gallant and helpful he offered to escort Rose home just as she was making her escape to a taxi that had been called for her.

" Never could handle your liqour." He grumbled through a forced smile as he helped her into the backseat of the cab.

" I didn't forget." Rose tugged at his hand around her arm, narrowing her glower onto the bearded driver who was grinning in amusement through the rear view mirror.

Scorpius said nothing to that as he waved once more to a mess of faces smiling wickedly at both of them from the Potter's stoop. He tried to ignore the dagger being thrown at him from Mr. Weasley and instead focused his attentions on the headrest before him.

" I didn't." She said again. " And I can handle my liqour."

He smirked. " Sure thing Weasley."

Rose shook her head than quickly realized that wasn't the best idea. A dizzy spell danced behind her eyes even when she shut out the light streaming past the window as the taxi pulled away from the sidewalk.

" Where too folks?"

" You can drop him off at the nearest airport if you like." Her head swam again. This time when she opened her eyes she was met by a fierce expression.

" That wont be necessary." He growled again, this time low and deliberate.

Rose might have been feeling the effects of too much firewhiskey, vodka and a little wine, but the look in that fierce expression was something she had seen before. It usually showed up in the blue haze now staring at her when he was about to pull something incredibley stupid and childish.

She went to open her mouth, went to protest and squirm away from his hand that was suddenly in her's again but by than it was too late.

The cab driver almost drove off the road when he realized his backseat was empty.

* * *

" You didn't have to do that!"

" Do what!? We're here aren't we?!"

Rose huffed as she dragged a hand through her hair that was once more laying in tangles about her shoulders. Apparation wasn't the best form of transportation at the best of times and now she knew that it defintley wasn't the greatest choice after a few hours spent pouring alcohol into your body.

" You could have given that poor man a stroke!"

Scorpious rolled his eyes even though he knew that she wouldn't see it. The hall they had landed in was dimly lit, not to mention her back was to him as she struggled to walk atop the damn shoes he was sure would be the death of her.

" Do you even know where you're going?"

" Of course I know where I'm going." She hoped she knew where she was going. Why couldn't he have apparated directly the the first floor of the Ministry. Or better yet her office! Damn it if he always had to make things difficult on her! Rose grabbed for her wand in her frustration.

" Lumos."

" Another mediocre spell. Very nice Weasley."

He knew there was buisness at hand. Hell, he held the buisness at hand in his pants pocket but it was still hard to pass up an opportunity to grind her a little. When she turned around sharply with her wand held toward his nose he knew he had.

He grinned. " Just trying to lighten the atmosphere a little."

" If you don't shut it there won't be an atmosphere around you to lighten."

" Now that would be a spell to see."

She shook her head violently. " You should have let me apparate."

Scorpius laughed running a hand through his own hair. " Now why would I do that. I wasn't about to put my life or any vital part of my body on the line due to..."

Rose watched him cock his thumb and pinky finger toward his open mouth while pulling a deranged looking face. " I'm not drunk!"

" You're not sober." He quipped.

" Oh bite me Malfoy."

" I thought I already did that."

A small, staggered squeak sounded from her mouth. Scorpius laughed again. Rose stormed passed him toward the first pair of elevator doors she found.

When he finally followed her through the massive glass doors with the intricate markings painted acoss it's frame, she stabbed the button marked number five.

Scorpius felt himself lurch forward as the doors slid shut mechanically and took off toward wherever or whatever level her office was located on or in. It wasn't his first time inside the Ministry of Magic. His father had payed this building many visits over the years and whenever he was around to join him, Scorpius always did. But no matter how many times he had walked the halls of the Ministry he had never gotten used to the damn elevator he was now holding onto dear life for.

He sauntered a glance toward Rose who he was hoping would look more green that her usual creamy complexion. He frowned to find her standing quite solid as the elevator coasted along like some amusement park ride, her arms crossed across her chest, her wand at the ready.

" How do you do this everyday?" He swallowed hard against the motion in his stomach

" Sameway you take the subway everyday." She snapped.

Only when the elevator came to an abrupt halt did Rose crack a smile. It wasn't too often she was the one able to walk over a sprawled out Scorpius. He groaned and rubbed at his forehead as he picked himself up off the floor.

" This way."

The hallway that he had fallen into was brighter, lights brimmed on either side of the walls that circled upward and than downward as they walked deeper into the place that she called work. Pictures danced inside their frames as per usual, some were of former Ministers, others were former abassadors for the department. The walls were washed to look white in some areas, than as they moved past the shade they exploded into colors that chased their figures as they walked.

Scorpius squinted as the colors harassed his sight. Rose continued to lead the way toward her office, stopping only momentarily to flick her wand toward a brass looking machine that instantly produced the scent of coffee as well as a large glass mug to catch the liquid as it brewed.

The door to her office lay open as usual. Jillian's desk was vacant except for another stack of brown files piled dangerously atop one another. Rose picked them up carefully, lending her hip as a place to rest the heavy load as she flipped the lights on about them.

Scorpius found himself watching her stiffly as she walked about the four walls that made up her office.

" Coffee?"

He shook his head slowly, all the while still studying her as she walked about the room, placing certain pieces of work into different cabinets, and doing her best to find her desk under the mess that had taken up residence on top of it.

It was hard not to look at her, he decided. He wondered when her legs had shot up. She had always been lanky. And skinny. He had teased her about it all the way through school....

Scorpius swallowed hard when she slipped out of her heels with a small huff.

She had grown up....and it wasn't hard to see that she had done it in all the right ways. Tall seemed to replace lanky and merlin help him, but the woman was far from skinny. She was all curves now. All curves. Under all that creamy, soft skin....

He watched her sip from the mug of coffee as she flipped her laptop on and began to scroll about the screen with a drawn look on her face.

Her lips were full. Full and pink.

" I thought you'd be spitting questions at me by now Malfoy."

Scorpius blinked hard from the corner he was standing in, trying to rid his gaze of the fog that suddenly seemed to blind him.

He coughed in response.

Rose lifted her eyes to meet his. " You were full of them a few hours ago."

" I just wanted to give you a few minutes to get yourself...situated."

" It's 2 am. I can situate myself tommorow morning." Rose leaned against the edge of her desk, her fingers still working to find the article on Samuel Grant that she had come upon only a few days ago. Why the same search engine was proving to be a useless exertion of her energy though was a huge question mark.

" Fine." He grunted not sure if it was because of her snotty attitude or the fact that he really wasn't ready to stop oggling her from the corner of her office like some hormonal teenager. " Who is the man in the picture?"

" His name is Samuel Grant. He's a muggle doctor. Apparently very well known within the muggle community for his work with medicine." She frowned hard at her laptop. " Oddly enough I would have never come across him, that was until the Ministry as well as the Minister decided that he was a person of interest to them as well as the magic community."

" This came across my desk a few days ago." She picked up the folder containing the basic information that she herself had on the doctor. " He specializes, and I use the term lightly in what seems to be gene manipulation. Or at least that's what I understand from what I've read."

" So why is the Ministry interested in him?" Scorpius flipped open the thick folder as he spoke, his thoughts wavering from the woman before him for the moment.

She tapped hard at the mousepad blowing out a hard breath when another sight came up empty. " The Ministry had always kept tabs on the muggle community and the magic, muggleborns, that they produce. The percentages of muggleborns in attendance at Hogwarts over the last seven or eight years had dropped enough that some of the big wigs upstairs began to look for the reason for it."

Scorpius was scanning the case file that was before him. His eyebrows narrowed when he realized what Rose meant by gene manipulation. " I didn't think that was possible?"

" What?" She looked up slightly from her battle with the internet to find a boggled looking Scorpius glaring at her. " That someone, somewhere who didn't accept the fact that their child was magic and they wanted nothing more but to rid their son or daughter of that burden could do it?" She shook her head. " Me neither. And it's still something that this department as well as the Ministry is investigating. All we have are case files of a few muggle children who at one point had shown great magic ability and than after coming into contact with Samuel Grant all of a sudden seem to have had their magic stripped from them. But we have hundreds of names."

He settled himself against the chair, feeling the tension in his back muscle pop as he did. " And you think this man is my father?"

" Everything is heresay at the moment." Rose watched him carefully before shutting her laptop. " Like I said, it's under investigation. I'm sure the Minister has someone on the case as we speak. As for this man being your father, I couldn't possibly come across that picture and say nothing...especially when it seems like I'm more involved with whatever he does as his extra curricular activities..."

Scorpius glanced up at her from his hands that were now knotted in one another. " What's that supposed to mean?"

Rose sighed, releasing her arms from the hold they had across her chest. " It means that if this is something that comes to light as fact, and that this man is somehow depleting muggleborn children of their abilities, he has to be dealt with."

" And you come into that factor how?"

She tensed.

Scorpius watched carefully as he hands fisted, and her body became stiff. Her eyes shifted uncomfortably about the room before meeting his gaze with what looked like a lie.

" Rose?" He stood up. She flinched. "How do you come into this?"

" I just do."

" What? What kind of answer is that?"

She quickly stepped away from him as he advanced on her, putting her large desk between them. " One that I'm not about to answer! Especially to you!"

Scorpius sneered after her, feeling his own hands curl into fists. " Listen Weasley! If this man is my father I think I deserve to know what the hell you have to do with his capture and ultimate hanging! And don't change the subject because I'm not leaving this office until you spill it!"

Rose felt her gaze drip with rage as it flicked across his sharp features. " First of all, I'm not even sure if he is your father! Second of all, it's really none of your buisness now is it!"

" You are my buisness!" His mouth almost snapped his tongue off.

Rose blanched white.

Scorpius shook his head and turned on his heel, than quickly turned on her again. " What are you doing Rose?"

His words had crawled up her chest and seemed to root themselves in her brain. She was surprised that her mouth could even work after they sunk in. " My family doesn't even know."

" Know what?"

He was closer to her now, his eyes boring into her downcast expression, willing her to look at him.

" Rose!" His hands came down on her arms, his head dipped to meet her height and be level with what he was determined to strip away from her. " Tell me!"

So she did. " I'm an Unspeakable."

_**Author's note: Of course all Harry Potter fans will know what the Unspeakables are. To those of you who do not know, it is a group of wizards who work in the Department of Mysteries and their identities are classified for security reasons. **_

_**So another twist. I needed to have Rose a little more involved with this Samuel Grant character so this is my way of doing that. I know this chapter was long and a little all over the place, but due to my tooth and the pain I was writing a few pieces of it very high. LOL. So please forgive me. Also, I have opened up my review board so people who do not have an account can review the story. Thanks to CMarisa.**_

_**Breeva xxx**_


	11. Chapter Ten: Need vs Want

**Chapter Ten: Need vs Want**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

_**Sorry for being slack!**_

His heart bounced hard off of his chest when the words left her mouth.

" What?"

" You heard me. And the only reason why I haven't obliverated your memory yet is because of the possibility Samuel Grant may just be your father. In any case you would have to be enlightened on it sooner than later so..."

Scorpius shook his head, just as he tried to shake the horrible feeling snaking it's way through his stomach.

"...I guess this was as good of time as any. But you can't go running your mouth to Albus or anyone Malfoy. I'm serious. The only person in my family who even knows that I'm involved with the Ministry in this way is my Uncle Harry and he isn't even sure as to what they have me doing. All he knows is that the job that everyone thinks I'm doing with this department is just a cover..."

His hands were fisting and unfisting. There was almost a crashing sound throbbing against his eardrums.

"...I don't need my parents, well mainly my father worrying about me because of what I do..."

She was moving around before him. She was doing something with the file that she had somehow pryed away from his grip. It was like looking through a fog. A red fog.

"...and it's not even that dangerous. Of course there was that one time. Damn Avada missed me by this much...."

Scorpius blinked.

Her fingers that were describing just how close she had come to certain death were suddenly crushed by a hand that seemed just as hell bent on killing her than any spell.

" Are you out of your fucking mind Rose!?"

" What the hell are you doing!?"

He didn't let her go, even when her face showed little tolerance for his sudden burst of anger. " An Unspeakable!? A bloody Unspeakable!? Are you looking to get yourself killed?!"

" Stop yelling! And let me go!"

" No I won't stop yelling and you're wrong if you think I'm going to let you go! I should drag you to your parents house and make you tell your father just what you told me and see if he likes the idea of you working for the fucking Ministers personal band of bloody assasins!"

Rose pulled hard against his grip. Her teeth lay clentched against each other in a futile attempt to keep the mess of obscenties begging to rip from her mouth.

" Do you have any idea why every year the idiot man even recruits so many wizards and witches to work for him!? It's because they're looking for magic that's willing to protect this world and be able to have little regard for their own lives!! Not to mention the fact that they all keep on getting themselves killed in action and what do you know, they need to be replaced!"

" You have no idea what you're talking about!"

" You're a bloody idiot!"

In a final push mixed with a forceful pull Rose managed to free herself from his grip. The moment she did though, the hand that still had blood circulating through it connected with his face.

Scorpius, stunned for the smallest second, touched his cheek that was now burning under the coolness of his own hand. " You hit me!"

" You shouldn't sound so surprised seeing how you more than deserved it!"

" Deserved it?! I was trying to make you see just how stupid you're being! This job will kill you!"

" Another minute in this room with you will kill me!" Rose grabbed for her coat laying across her desk and shoved it over her heated body. " I don't know why I even told you!"

He was still stunned that she had actually served him up a fine slap to the jaw, but it didn't occur to him that the conversation between them might just be over.

" I can't let you do this...you know that."

" You _can't _let me do this?" She glowered toward where he stood. His cheek was red with her handprint. " _Can't? _I'm sorry but since when is it any of your business as to how I live my life?"

Scorpius cringed at her words, but it didn't lessen the argument he was pitching at her. " That's not the point!"

" Than what is the point!? I didn't bring you here to have you come crashing down on me because you don't agree with my choice of occupation! I brought you here to help me fill in the blanks when it comes to this man!" She shook the file at him, than thrust it into her shoulder bag. " I don't need a lecture! I don't need your bloody opinion! I'm doing this and merlin help me if you open your damn mouth Malfoy!"

The lights snapped off over his head and he watched her storm from the room.

Rose felt her blood pumping, and her skin skipping with her temper. It wasn't until she felt his fingers wrap about her arm once more did she realize how hard she was suppressing her building rage for the man not a foot behind her.

" I would say it's the other way around Weasley." He spoke with control, even though he could feel the same horrific feeling ultimately bleeding it's way through his system. Scorpius pulled lightly against the fabric of her coat, turning her to look at him under the burning lights of the hallway they stood in. " I would also say you just stepped in it."

She bit her lip when his eyes caught her own steaming gaze. They were challenging her. Rose had seen it before...she had crumbled not too long after looking into it. But this time it was different. They were both different.

She narrowed her own expression of ultimate searing anger against the haze of blue plowing into her thoughts. " And how's that?"

Scorpius smirked. Rose grimaced.

" I'll make you a deal."

She went to open her mouth and with little to no grace in order to tell him to shove it, but he was already speaking, closing the distance between them as he did.

It was than and only than that she felt herself distract from the situation at hand. It was than and only than that the sneer assaulting his mouth had her biting her bottom lip even harder.

" Obviously, it's important to you that I keep your secret. I mean, aside from your family basically blowing their tops if they found out, I'm sure the Ministry wouldn't look too kindly on you when they found out you told a meer civilian living in the muggle world that you were an Unspeakable. Isn't that grounds enough to lose your job Weasley?"

Rose tried to take a much needed step away from him, but his large hands held her in place as his words made themselves known.

" So I won't say anything. I'll keep my mouth shut."

" For what?"

Scorpius smiled. " I'm coming with you. When you go off to look for this man...I'm coming."

" You're insane."

" Your choice." He stepped away from her, releasing her arm as he did. " Either I go with you. Or I out you."

Rose growled.

" I mean your father..." Scorpius blew out a heavy breath. " He'll lose his head for sure. And your mother...well she might have the coolest tempermant around but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't like the idea of her little girl jetting around the world and throwing spells about like a seventh year in a defense of the dark arts class....not to mention Al and the rest of your family. Hell....well it would explode on your picture perfect life."

" This is blackmail."

Scorpius laughed when she spit the words at him. He wondered just how red her skin could get. He also wondered about her bottom lip and wether it was going to survive her teeth or not....

" Damn right."

She didn't agree. She didn't disagree. She screamed between clentched teeth which only made him chuckle again as he watched her throw her arms up in surrender and continue her tyrade down the hallway towards the dreaded elevator.

It wasn't until the doors slid open and she stepped inside did she turn to glower at him from where he still held vigil. " I leave after the wedding."

He grinned inwardly. " I wasn't asking for permission Weasley."

She stabbed the buttons before her sending a shooting pain up her forearm. " And I'm not giving you permission. I am however giving you warning."

" And how's that."

The elevator chimed to life around her. Her eyes stayed still and solid on his. " This is my job. This is what I do. Don't get in my way. You get in my way...I'll get in yours."

The doors slid shut.

And Scorpius decided that the woman getting in his way wasn't the worst thing that could happen.

* * *

" Stop pacing Al."

" I'm not pacing."

Scorpius blew out a heavy breath while James rolled his eyes. Albus continued to pace.

" You're making me dizzy."

" No. You're dizzy because you drank yourself into a bloody stuper last night, idiot."

James shrugged, than grinned wickedly at his brother who was at the moment pulling at his silk black tie noosed about his neck. " I actually wasn't that intoxicated kid...I was just going through the motions because of the waitress who was eyeing me all night. I think she may have saw a cause worth saving!"

Scorpius shook his head. " Must be a brave woman to take you on Potter."

" They all are Malfoy!" James laughed, motioning to his brother now fidgeting before a mirror. " But I suppose this calls for more praise when it comes to bravery. Al's the one taking the plunge, and needless to say he's willingly attached the old ball and chain all by himself!"

" Should we applaude?" Scorpius glanced at Albus who only smirked in response.

James grinned. " Nah. I'm sure Al doesn't need our congratulations. The honeymoon does start tonight remember?"

Scorpius laughed. Albus gritted his teeth but felt the corners of his mouth betray the ball of nerves twisting in his stomach. He ran a hand through his tumble of curls that his mother had helped him tame for the days event. " Have either of you seen Bree yet?"

" That's not the way these things work little brother." James yawned from the corner of the room, letting his head rest against the large wingback chair.

" If we had been aloud to bring out bloody wands we might have been able to help you out in that department." Scorpious glanced about the small room that they had been ordered to upon arrival at the church. Mrs. Potter as well as Mrs. Vindley seemed to have bonded over the last few weeks, and when it came to the wedding for their son and daughter they meant more than business. In turn, that meant that everything and anything that could possible go wrong that day was not and would not happen. He smirked towards James and wondered how bored his friend was at that moment.

" Mum has hers. And Im pretty sure I saw dad sneak his this morning before Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron picked us up."

Al snorted. " Did you really think either mum or dad where going to leave the house without their wands James? Hell, I'm sure they're both permanently paranoid for the rest of their lives after the mess they both went through when they were Hogwarts."

James shrugged, than made a frustrated sound deep inside his throat before peeling himself from his chair and making a beeline for his brother. " Seriously kid, you'd think after all the classy functions we've been dragged to over the years you would have a clue when it comes to the piece of material around your neck!"

Scorpius watched in quiet amusement as the two men struggled with the tie, batting insults back and forth at each other as they did. He relaxed back into his own chair, letting his eyes travel toward the floor length windows that were decorated with a slew of different colors that the sun was playing with as it blended with the glass. He was focused. Somewhat anyhow.

He would stand up for Al, be the best man, give the toast, watch James and make sure he did his duty as well. But his head was elsewhere. The face of the man that had stared him in the eye only days ago was doing more than haunting him. It had kept him up the past two nights, his thoughts, his questions, that face. He had come close to asking his mother, had come too close actually, but the words just didn't make sense on his tongue. And than there was his father, the man who had raised him and wanted him from the beginning. Scorpius had always known he was adopted, had always known that he wasn't a Malfoy by blood, but it had never mattered and his father...Draco....he had always made sure that Scorpius was aware of that fact. It didn't matter. It had never mattered.

Until now. It was an odd feeling that clawed at his stomach when he glanced at the man next to his mother and the boy smiling so wide from the black and white photo. He couldn't decipher it. He couldn't tell the difference between the need to know or the want to know when it came to the man who seemed to look so much like the little blonde boy clutching a tattered stuffed frog in his little hands.

Scorpius didnt noticed his mouth twitching, even when his hand brushed against his lips in an attempt to harden the grin tempting there. His mind drifted slowly. Of course he had always had an issue seperating need and want. It wasn't like he didn't know what they were. Need was something that was substantial, like food and water. It was something that you couldn't do without. His eyes narrowed on the glass when the sun shot another stream of bright white light mixed with a dripping crimson color across his gaze. But want.

Want was raw. He always thought it was stronger than any need. It was something that you could feel at the ends of your fingertips when something was just out of reach, or a pain that could slice through every nerve ending when a scent or a smile or a touch was dangerously close to pulling you under. It was the only emotion that could have you claimed temporarily insane and you would have no problem with that diagnosis as long as you got....he got what he wanted.

He noted the heat from the sun was not what suddenly had his skin searing from under his suit.

" James! Bloody hell! You're choking me!"

" Merlin Al! I was just trying to give you another way out of the long walk down the aisle!"

Scorpius blinked and was about to force himself in between his two friends when the door to the little room opened and Harry Potter, flanked by Ron Weasley as well as his own father stood in amusement before the three younger men.

" We can hear you all the way down the hall...your mother sent us to make sure you weren't killing one another." Harry was smiling brightly, and laughed when Albus sneered toward James who could only laugh in response.

" I thought you were assigned best man to keep Al here alive until he was out of the country Scorp?"

Scorpius shook his head toward his father who was matching Mr. Weasleys grin to perfection. " I didn't realize that was part of the job description."

" Well with two Potter boys in the same room for too long you should have guessed as much kid." Ron was already attacking the tie around his nephews neck with vigilance while Harry went about putting James back together from the small scuffle that had insued between his sons.

" Don't blame Malfoy." Albus chimed in, his voice deep with his nerves even when his eyes were brimming with mischievenous. " He's been somewhat distracted ever since Rose fell at his feet at the reception the other night."

Albus gagged when his uncles fingers worked a little too hard to tighten his tie.

Draco burst in laughter and patted his son on the back gently. " Well kid you never know. I told Weasley here that we might just have to get used to the idea of becoming family one day."

" Over my bloody dead body ferret!!"

Albus choked for air. Ron's face blanched red. Harry and James laughed without much regard for their own lives while they saved a strangling groom from an early death.

Scorpius assumed Al would escape certain demise and he would become victim to the massive red haired man instead.

Draco could only chuckle and sent his son a knowing look. " Weirder things have happened kid. I still can't believe I'm standing in the same room with these two..." He smirked and than braced his hands in the air toward Ron who was till fuming. " I'm just saying Weasel! I swear I can see steam coming from your ears man! Come on, leave the boys to their father and I'll try and explain to you the upside of our genes blending!"

" You're asking for it Malfoy! I swear if the bloody woman hadn't of forced me to leave my damn wand home I would...."

Their voices carried even when Draco and Ron had left the room.

The laughter resumed inside the four walls between Albus, James and their father and grew louder after Scorpius sent his best friend a scathing look and carefully followed the bellowing and chuckles out of the room.

" Idiots." He growled, shoving his hands deep inside his pockets as he stormed down the winding hall. " Leave it to Al...serving me up on a damn platter..."

" There you are!"

He almost turned and ran. He wondered if there was a fireplace within the church equipped for such an escape. He knew a great bar somewhere on the outskirts of the small town that served a great pint of beer...

But Ms. Dupree was faster than he thought. In all her glory, that was adorned with flashing gold jewlery that matched the almost neon pink satin dress she was wearing, her hands were about his arm and pulling him toward the church entrance where people were busy finding their seats and chatting amongst themselves.

" Ms. Dupree." He spoke through clenched teeth but managed a polite smile as the woman barked orders at him for the tenth time that morning.

" So the sister and brother will of course walk first, followed by you and the young girl...Rose is it? Yes that's it...than of course we have the bride with her father. You do know it's the first wedding I've done and I haven't had a little flower girl and ring bearer running about. It's quite a relief actually seeing how I really have no tolerance for the little creatures, but I suppose that comes with the job. Also, the speeches. The groom tells me that the brother will be giving the speech and you yourself will just be saying a few words in regards to the couple themselves which I think is fine, but we only have alotted amount of time so if you could keep it to the minimum that would be perfect seeing how the sister is going to make a speech as well and..."

He was listening. Or he had been. The womans words had slowly melted into one another when he saw her walking toward him.

She was dressed in red satin. It clung to curves that he was never aware of before than. Her legs were long and lean.

She turned to say hello to some random bastard who got too damn close for his liking and his breath snapped inside his lungs.

The material was non existent down her back and was cut dangerously low. So low. Too fucking low. His heart jammed against his chest and his fingers tightened like steel against his palm.

" Excuse me." He sneered toward the wedding planner still chattering on with more white noise and stormed toward Rose and her red dress that seemed to blend well with the color his rage was now producing.

Only when his fingers were around her arm, touching her bare skin and burning his fingertips did she notice him.

" I need to speak to you." He was snarling like some kind of wild animal by this time. The man that had been taking in all that skin seemed to suddenly shrink before the blond wizard. " Now."

" I'm busy." Rose hissed, trying to soften her lips on the nice man before her....who seemed to look much paler than he had moments before.

But of course her words fell on deaf ears and before she could even catch the muggles name Scorpius was pulling her away from the crowds of well wishers and toward the closest exit.

He shoved the doors open and pulled her outside, basically lifting her off of her feet in order to keep her from tripping up in the pair of heels she had been forced into again.

" What the hell Scorpius!!! Do you think you can manhandle me whenever you bloody well please!!!"

" Do you think you should be bloody well dressed in something like that!?"

Her skin was so damn soft under the hold he had on her. Her hair was coiled at the nape of her neck and her solid brush of bang was swept to the side, leaving her eyes open and vulnerable...and presently full of rage...

" I can dress however I damn well please!"

The red fog was draining around him even though his grip continued to feel like hot stone against her skin.

" Where the hell do you get off?! I swear to merlin you've bloody well lost it Scorpius Malfoy! Lost it! If you ever pull something like that ever again...!"

" Rose." He growled in warning, his jaw working hard under his freshly shaven face. His eyes flecked against her hazardous stare.

" Rose what?! What?! He was a nice man! A nice normal man!! And I doubt he had an issue with what I was wearing or how much skin I'm showing! I can do as I please! Do you hear me!"

" Rose."

"What Scorpius!? What?!"

He didn't mean to hurt her but he knew that he would. His mouth was anything but gentle when it collided with her lips again. This time he forced her against the closed door, he knew pushing hard enough to bump her head and all her hair against the metal, but he couldn't break away from her, his body wouldn't allow it....just as he was sure her body wouldn't either.

He felt her every curve press against him, into him, her heart snapping off beats against his chest that was doing the same as his. His hands were hard against every inch of skin he traced. Her head fell against his chest when he dragged his teeth against her neck and her shoulder, a gasping noise sounded from a set of lips he hated to be away from for too long.

It was only when he felt her hands drag across his chest did he feel his control, or what was left of it, dissapearing... his head was clouded, his senses were dangerously lingering over her scent, and how she tasted in his mouth...

He pressed her harder against the door, feeling every sane thought leaving him, feeling her body quake under his...he bit down hard on her lip when she lost control of the quick breath escaping her lungs...

And it was than that the opposite door swung open letting the noise and excitement of the ceremony rush around them.

" Rose!..Oh god...sorry..." Bree's sister giggled from where she stood.

Scorpius fell back, his entire being protesting the damn child that was now grinning like a manic woman before them.

Rose pulled herself from the door, her eyes anywhere but his.

" We're um...starting and...well you two are kind of a big part of the ceremony....but I can see if we can do without you if you want...."

" Do that." Scorpius growled running a hand through the mess of hair she had had a hand in.

Her legs were shaking as she walked toward Eveyln who on lifted eyebrows laughed one more time and left the open door in the hands of Rose. If she was going to say something, she changed her mind in the end.

Scorpius watched her shake her head slightly, the curls grazing her back, the golden green of her eyes watching him with a caution he was unfamiliar with.

It was only when the door closed behind her did he finally realize the difference between need and want.

_**Hi! I haven't left you! lol**_

_**Just been busy and I feel horrible for not writing. So after this chapter it does pick up. I feel like Ive gotten a little lost with the romance between Scorp and Rose but as it is I plan to definitley have Samuel Grant a constant bad guy character in the next few chapters. I still have the relationship between Rose and Scorp to work with, the fight that Rose (with Scorp in tow) will have on her hands when she comes face to face with the doctor and his ideals and his secrets and than we have Scorp and the doctor, his biological father...and how that whole mess will play out...I can tell you it will not be good....but I promise to make it fun along the way and all the sexual tension will definitley reach its boiling point lol!!**_

_**My friend read this and the missing pieces and said i should write for a soap lol**_

_**Anyway review! You can get mad at me for being slack! lol Breeva xxx**_


	12. Chapter Eleven: Promise

**Chapter Eleven: Promise**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

" Yes, the wedding was great Mags...."

Scorpius nodded lightly as his receptionist spoke from the receiver of his mobile.

" I have pictures...I can send them to you..."

He pressed on his tired eyes and restrained a large sigh from escaping him. Around him the headache he was feeling coming on seemed to heighten as the early morning flights began to start their announcements for boarding.

" Yes I had fun Mags..." He cringed as his thoughts suddenly flashed against the wedding and how much fun he had almost had. It was than that his stomach shrugged into uneasiness. He shook his head and was jostled by a band of people running for what could have only been a last call for their flight. " So Joe is okay with the extended trip than? Everything under control?"

He found himself grinning slightly at her response which was of course sarcastic. Scorpius knew that the company wouldn't collapse around his employees just because he was taking a few weeks off, but it didn't stop the images of Adair contracting breaking away from it's very own footings and leaving him pretty well broke, from sifting through his brain.

" I just had something come up..." He rolled his eyes and smiled lightly. " No it's nothing to worry about Maggie...I shouldn't be gone more than a week."

The sight of blazing red hair through the masses of people had his stomach roll again. " But they're calling my flight now so I'll call you when we land and check in..."

Rose sighed from where she stood watching Scorpius bob his way through the crowds that seperated them. The fact that her heart had skipped a few vital beats when she saw him grinning into the phone and the conversation he was having, with whomever he was having it with, made her fingers fidget in her gloves.

They hadn't spoken since the wedding. The had barely said two words too each other during the whole event. He had walked her down the aisle, raised his glass when she had toasted Bree and Albus and even somehow brought himself to dance with her for a few short minutes during the reception, but it had all been done in stone silence that somehow seemed to follow her around the entire night in a set of distracted blue eyes.

" Hey."

" On time I see..." She gripped the handle of her luggage tightly when he stopped to drop his at her feet.

Scorpius yawned at her comment and glanced around the terminal. " Where's the rest of your _co-workers_?"

Rose blinked. " I didn't say anything about my co-workers coming along."

The exhaustion that seemed to be winning out over the small conversation they were currently having suddenly turned into a brewing storm between them. " What do you mean no one is coming? It was just you? They were sending you across the damn country all by yourself!?"

" Oh merlin you make it sound so dramatic." Rose huffed and took another longer look at the flights that were blinking before them, twisting her fingers tighter in her gloves as she did. She would have passed up the tension tracing through her to flying, but really how absurd was that. A witch scared of flying? Her father would have gotten a kick out of that one. Of course it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that his arm was brushing against her own, or how he smelled like soap and aftershave...or how he was staring at her with that damn fire in his eyes again. " Stop looking at me like that! It's not like they were sending me on a lethal mission or anything Malfoy. It's an investigation. I find him, I study him, and if worse comes to worse I talk to him. That's it!"

" Bloody government has no fucking clue what they're doing...." He grumbled as he followed her lead toward their gate. Rose ignored his growls and snaps as they did.

They passed through security with no trouble, even though she was secretly wishing they somehow they would mistake Scorpius for a person on their no fly list. The idea made her grin slightly, gaining a brighter smile from the male flight attendant presently accepting her ticket from her hands.

" Is this your first time visiting Italy, Miss?"

" Yes it is actually." It really wasn't, but her job had taught her that the opposite answer to the truth when any question was asked of her while on a mission was the correct reply.

The man smiled again. " You'll love Italy, Miss. My family has three villas around Tuscany. Beautiful city."

Rose watched him return her stub and took it gently from his hands. " I'll keep that in mind. I've always wanted to see Tuscany."

Scorpius groaned and pushed her toward the welcoming doors that would take them away from the damn chatter that was making him nauseated.

The man watched Rose go. When he came about to serve his next passenger in line he met a snarl. " Umm....Italy as well than sir."

" That's what the ticket says." The stub was in his hands quicker that it had fallen into Roses.

" Ah yes...well...have a good trip sir."

Scorpius snatched at his carry on and grumbled a forced _thank you_ toward the man still trying to catch a glimpse of the short bob of red curls now turning the corner to board the plane.

Rose was already seating herself when he finally made his way aboard the flight. She didn't look at him when he took his own seat next to her, but her entire body seemed to tighten when his hands fumbled with the seat belt lying close to her thigh.

The minutes passed like hours as the plane boarded and the announcements were made. The captain repeated his happy commands and asked them all to enjoy their flight.

The anxiety was crippling inside of her. Scorpius was gaining another headache that he was sure no spell of drug could cure.

It was only when the plane was turning on to the runway did the words his brain was begging him to sneer came rushing out of his twisted mouth. " Three villas Weasley. He looked more than willing to share that with you didn't he..."

Rose made a noise close to a gag. Her eyes collided against an all too familiar glare. She smirked. " Do you think? I mean three villas....would you say he has money? Or maybe his family? I bet his family does. Can you imagine it Malfoy, me all married off, barefoot and pregnant, living in one of those Villas with such a nice italian man as my husband..."

Scorpius tasted blood.

Rose laughed. " Promise me you won't visit."

The plane left the ground.

* * *

_His hand tightened around the smallest fingers he had ever seen before in his life. He had to be careful though. She was so little. So small. He didn't want to hurt her. His eyes worked over the bundle, taking in every piece of her. Every piece of what was his. He wondered if she had his eyes. He hoped not. She should have her mothers. _

_Damn woman was so sure the kid was going to be his walking clone._

_He hoped she was a little version of that damn woman, right down to that bloody mouth she was so apt to use all the time._

_The little bundle yawned. Her little fingers wound about his forefinger. He leaned in to brush his lips against her forehead._

_A scream pierced the air around them, the calm scene breaking like glass._

_The quiet scene changed. The small bundle was gone, taken from him, his hand was empty even though his fingers were still desperate for the little hand that had been snatched away from him._

_And when his eyes were able to focus, when his heart was done shattering inside his chest, he saw her._

_Her head was resting against her shoulder. Her hair was plastered against her cheek. Her eyes were closed._

_She was bound by light. She was bound so tightly her arms and ankles were bleeding._

_" Rose!"_

_Her chest shuttered. Her eyes fluttered._

_" Rose!"_

_His legs wouldn't move. He screamed at her. Yelled at her. Begged her to wake up._

_When her head fell forward, he fell to his knees, his wand somehow out of his reach where he collapsed._

_And the man that stood behind her, his hand resting on the corpse he had created, had the same eyes as Scorpius._

* * *

He was sick.

He had to be sick.

Maybe he needed a drink. He felt the urge to vomit at the thought. Maybe not.

They made it to the hotel where they both checked in as quickly as possible, heading off the questions about if they would be needing champagne or rose petals sent up to the room with little grace. Rose made it clear they were in the city on business and the only thing she would be needing would be a room with a fireplace, which the staff at the Lorelis Hotel happily accomidated.

His only request was a seperate room with a bed.

His eyes were sunken deep into their sockets by the time they landed so much so that even Rose was worried over his state.

The dream...nightmare...whatever it had been had brought him out of a sleep that he never wanted to return to. The shock had stayed with him even after the plane had landed in Italy, the horrible feeling that was now ripping at his stomach hadn't left him either. He was only thankful that Rose had also been asleep when he shot awake somewhere over Germany.

His eyes had absorbed her in that small moment, the clarity and the fear from the nightmare somehow dragging his hand to linger over her mouth where he could feel her warm breath brush against his fingers.

Scorpius shut the door to his hotel room behind him slowly. He dropped his suitcase hard on the ceramic floor and instantly found his way toward the set of floor length windows where the morning sun was now assaulting the exhaustion sliding over his entire frame. He would have ripped all the bed clothes off the immaculate looking bed and tacked them to the wall if it wasn't for his arms feeling overly heavy and weighted. He flicked his wrist and the blinds shut before him, blocking out the damn sunrise and leaving him in a dimness that instantly sent him sprawling against the bed.

He groaned when the images of the nightmare flashed against his closed eyes.

Rose decided to let him sleep. He looked awful when they landed. Pale....even for a Malfoy. Maybe he was sick. She wondered when he had eaten last. She had asked him if he was feeling okay before they parted ways to their seperate rooms, but he had only grunted in response and shut the door on her question.

She grabbed her suitcase, doing her best to diminish Scorpius from her thoughts for the moment, but reminding herself to check on him when she was done setting up.

Her laptop sprang to life, the information she had ordered the Ministry to send her upon her arrival already on her screen. Samuel Grants picture, a present photo was the first thing that she caught sight of, followed by his formal information. He was living in Sicily, in a small village where he was well known as the towns doctor. He was well respected. Rich. Single. No children. He was also a professor at the local university, his teachings ranging from medicine to foreign studies and affairs.

Rose tapped her finger restlessly against the cedar wood desk sitting next to one of the larger than normal windows of the room. She glanced at his profile again, this time coming to a rest upon his interest with foreign affairs. Rose supposed that could only mean, in muggle terms, his interest with magic.

She sat down on the side of her bed, and flipped through some of the files that she had scattered on the sheets already. The names of the many children that looked back at her made her dizzy. How many times had this man taken from them? How many children were forced to give in to something they didn't want? How did he do it? Genetic manipulation was unreal to her. She knew it was possible, knew that the muggles could somehow choose the sex of their unborn babies, could manipulate how they would look, their eye color, their hair...

Maybe it was possible to manipulate something like magic.

The thought scared her.

She shivered, and dropped the files back on to the bed somehow wishing for a distraction. The sky outside was turning into a cloudless blue. The city itself was all white stone, right down to the ground that could have been mistaken for flooring in a majestic palace. Rose leaned her tired body against the frame of her window and let her eyes search the town before her.

The Ministry had sent her to Naples. They had decided amongst themselves that the more travelling Rose was to do the better. It kept her out of one place, and always moving, so if Samuel Grant did catch on to her and her motives, at least he wouldn't be able to pin point her whereabouts. So Naples was the first stop. Tommorow she would head to Sicily.

Or _they_ would head to Sicily.

A breeze of warm air snuck in from the open window and she breathed deeply the scent of the ocean as it meshed with the humidity.

The heat brought her back to the day of the wedding.

She growled low in her throat and began to shed her pant suit quickly as the heat swelled against her skin.

Damn him for doing this to her. Damn him for for acting as if he was her bloody protector. And damn him for making her feel this way.

Her suitcase lay open on the bed as well and she quickly found a long white dress shirt, and pulled it over her body, snapping a brown belt across her torso in an attempt to make it look more like a shorter version of a dress that sleep wear. It felt good to feel the air on her legs, and she walked about the hotel room bare foot enjoying the cold ceramic against her heels.

Make the best of it....she had been telling herself that since that early morning flight. Make the best of it. Do what you were sent to do. Try not to kill him.

Rose fell against her bed again and sighed. Try not to find herself wanting his mouth against her lips again. Try not to crave his chest bumping against her own and his hands tracing the skin on her back, her arms....her thighs.

A knock at her door brought her crashing from her own prison of thoughts and she found herself stumbling across the room.

She opened and found Scorpius standing against the wood, and irritated look on his face and a coffee in his hand.

" Here."

" I thought you were asleep?"

He pressed the mug into her hand now and moved around her into the room that he noted looked like a disaster zone. " Not much point in sleeping when I have a neighbor who is making more noise than I even knew she was capable of making keeping me wide awake."

Rose scowled. " Get another room than!"

Scorpius ignored her words, but found he was having a hell of a hard time ignoring what she was wearing once again. He ran a hand over his face and shook his head away from her. " Christ Rose! Can you put something on!"

She cringed at his outburst and glanced down at what she was wearing. " It's a dress!"

" It's a bloody shirt with a bloody belt!"

" Oh merlin!" Rose sighed heavily. " I'm not changing Malfoy. So get used to it. I'm not going to be wearing a damn suit when I'm here on an investigation. The idea is to blend in as much as possible. Would you rather me running about Italy in my finest dress robes and my wand out and at the ready?!"

" I'd rather you put some pants on."

Rose raised an eyebrow toward where he stood. She rolled her eyes and managed to find a pair of brown khaki shorts somewhere in the bottom of her suitcase and pulled them on under the shirt.

" I said pants." He grumbled but finally turned about to face her.

" And I say shut it." She fumbled with her suitcase, throwing it the side than busied herself with the coffee he had brought for her. " I'm going to Sicily tommorow. The Ministry sent me his location and whereabouts."

" You mean we're going to Sicily."

She huffed again and met his steel glare. " Fine. But there are ground rules."

" And what's that." She looked so damn opposite of him. Rested. Ready for anything. Unbareably cool, aside from the fact that he was smothering under his own skin.

" You have to follow my directions at all times. I can't have you jumping at the slightest thing, reacting to something that you don't have to. When I find him I want you to stay clear of him as well, in case he somehow recognizes you. I can't have anything or anyone compromising what I'm here to do. Understood?"

He sneered at her. Actually sneered. He had to fight with his expression to loosen the anger there. " Fine. But you have to understand that the moment I feel any kind of danger, under any circumstance, I'm hauling your ass out of there."

" I'll agree to that, but it won't be necessary."

Scorpius shrugged and watched her walk across the room toward the balcony. Her eyebrows were narrowed, and he knew that she was thinking now. Maybe about the day to come. Maybe about the tactics she had to use and would use no matter what the cost. Maybe about how to lose him along the way...

His own thoughts blanked back to the visions of his nightmare. He felt it now, the danger....something threatening. It lay in his stomach and was twising and turning like a storm about to explode.

" Rose."

She made a small noise close to a reply, but her eyes stayed vacant on the scene before her. He watched her for the moment, swallowing hard when she let her gaze blink back towards him.

" Promise me you'll be careful."

He watched her head bend slightly, the short curls slipping away from behind her ear and dashing across her cheek. " If you promise...."

Scorpius shook his head, cutting her off before her sarcastic quip could leave her mouth.

Rose felt her body repel when he shortened the distance between them. When his hand brushed against her arm, her mouth ran dry.

His eyes were serious. His lips were straight and every feature on his face looked carved with stress.

He searched her face for the truth, for the words that he needed to hear.

" Promise me."

So she nodded and promised him she would be careful.

_**Not a whole lot going on in this chapter I know. I suppose somethings just have to be written in order to get to where I need them to get. I don't really know where the next chapter is going to lead. I'm going to think about it and see what I can come up with.**_

_**Anyhow, keep reading. I hope it's not too boring lol**_

_**Breeva**_

_**Thanks darinmeg!**_


	13. Chapter Twelve: Recognition

**Chapter Twelve: Recognition**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

It was still dark when they reached Sicily. The island seemed to twinkle as the boat waded it's way through the glassy waters. Under very heavy lidded eyes, Scorpius scanned the shores before them that were decorated with the same homes, all white and pink stone standing together row by row. The houses littered the hills that were also ranked with farm land.

He squinted against the darkness as the boat loomed on toward the island. He tried to rid the ball of anxiety tearing at his insides as they got closer to the dock, but the more he thought about the man who had had a hand in his existance actually living in one of these disordered looking cottages, actually this close, made his nerves slice at him.

Rose was busy searching the island as well, but he could tell from the tight expression on her face that she was planning, planning and more planning.

Scorpius tugged at the white shirt she had demanded he wear. He thought he looked like a damn tourist. She said that was the idea.

He tapped his foot on the deck, glanced around at the other passengers, picked at the zipper on the tan jacket that she had also made him wear, and than continued to tap his foot.

When he blew out a long, calling breath, Rose lifted an eyebrow toward him in response.

" Are you okay Malfoy?"

" Fine. You?"

Rose closed the file she had been re-reading for the last hour, and slipped it back into her shoulderbag where her wand as well as her spell book was hidden. She leaned against the decks balcony, stretching her legs as she did.

She shrugged. " Tired, other than that I'm used to this kind of thing. When I first started, I had all kinds of anxiety, good and bad I guess...but I got used to it."

Scorpius grinned slightly. " How do you get used to almost getting hit with an Avada by this much?"

Rose rolled her eyes at the over exageration he was pulling with his forefinger and thumb. " It was actually this much."

He chuckled when she opened the distance between his fingers in an attempt to make her brush with death not as serious as he assumed it was.

She smiled as his face softened and his eyes danced across the sight before them both.

" So do you ever plan on telling your dad how you really pay the bills Weasley?"

" Do you ever plan on telling your parents all of your little secrets Malfoy?"

Scorpius laughed again and shot her a knowing glance. " Alright...so what do you tell them when you head off on these 'trips than?"

" The truth. I have to go out of town for work. They rarely ask a lot of questions anymore...well dad doesn't anyhow. I made sure to bore him the first time I was sent on an investigation. I think I must have talked him into a very deep sleep when I began to quote numbers and words that were just to big for him to comprehend." She grinned at the memory. " Dad doesn't ask any more questions. Mom on the other hand is always interested in everything and anything I do work wise, but with Hugo in Hogwarts, getting himself and Lyra into trouble at every turn, her mind is anywhere but the 'trips' I take."

" And your Uncle Harry? You said he had kind of an idea as to what the Ministry really has you up to."

" Uncle Harry is under the impression that I'm just doing detailing work for the minister himself. I told him I co-ordinate these kind of jobs, plan them out for the others to take on and complete..." Rose pulled her white wrap tighter around her shoulders. " He has zero idea what I really do...and I think if he had a choice in the matter he would rather it that way. It keeps him out of trouble with my parents and especially my Aunt Gin."

Scorpius watched her grin at her own thoughts. The sunrise was pushing it's way across the horizon at the same moment, and the light seemed to dance like dust across the ocean and paint the hills behind her as the boat waded into the dock. He found himself dazed slightly as the orange ball of light slid across her every feature.

" It doesn't look like the village is even awake yet."

She went to stand up. Scorpius grabbed her hand in his own.

" What?"

The sun blinked behind her like a halo, her silohette was darkened and almost looked warm from the questioning gaze she was sending him.

He took a staggered breath, and felt his face suddenly flush with an uncontrolled embarassment he hadn't felt since grade school.

" Scorpius? What?"

" You remember what you promised me Rose." It wasn't a question. It was a demand. Scorpius tightened his grip on her hand.

" I remember." She wanted to snap at him. She wanted to take her hand back from him. But her face was soft when she spoke and her voice was soothing.

When she smiled at him, and nodded her agreement again, it was only than that he let her hand go.

When they stepped onto the island of Sicily, Doctor Samuel Grant knew.

* * *

It was all new to him. The sights, the sounds. It was like being born again...or being born into somebody else's body. A better body. A powerful body.

The sun flashed like lightening through the sunroof of his car as he sped along the hills of his home. He breathed in deeply the scent of the ocean that mixed willingly with the wondorous morning that had been blessed upon his island once more. The people of the town were up and about now, tending to their homes, their villas, their farms. Children were scooting their own way to school, some lagging behind and amusing the idea of skipping between themselves just for that day.

He smiled and stole a glance at the object lying securly upon the passenger seat next to him. He had had it finished last week, carved and stained and cut just to suit him, which it did. It felt solid in his hand, slender between his fingers when he weilded it. When he spoke the words he had studied for so many years, those words finally made sense. When a bright light of any color slid out from the very tip of it, he knew he had once again succeeded.

He let his gaze saunter back toward the winding road that was leading him toward the heart of the village. The excitement that was singing in his chest was hard to compress and his foot came down harder on the gas petal and he shifted the gear shift in an attempt to get to where he was going to faster.

He hadn't awoke from his sleep that morning for nothing. Someone had arrived early that day, someone who he was interested in meeting. He felt their magic, just as he felt his own as it surged through his veins. It was something he had never experienced before. With the children he had encountered over the years it had never felt like this before...so strong...so aged....

His fingers gripped the steering wheel tighter as he entered the town. He waved slightly to the people upon the streets who knew him as the villages doctor. He greeted them with a smile and a hello, but his eyes were peeled for a group of tourists, or a person who he would know just didn't belong to his island.

The car stopped and he delicatley placed his wand into a holder he had constructed for the special piece of magic at his hip. When he stepped onto the cobbelstone streets he once more went about shaking hands and receiving kisses from the people he had come to know as his neighbors. They knew him as the doctor, the man with the healing hands, the wiseman that could heal the worst ailments.

Samuel Grant felt his eyes work across the strain of excitement still racing through his system. The boat had to have brought at least three different groups of tourists since he was awoken this morning like it always did this time during the season. He wondered what he was looking for amongst the groups of people with cameras slung about their necks, their foreign clothing new but too warm for the heat wave that the island was currently experiencing. Was this person older? Younger? It couldn't have been a child. The magic that a child produced would never feel like this. No, it had to be someone older, someone with more experience in the art that was magic.

He wasn't worried however. He rarely ever did. He knew that the moment he came in contact with this person, this old magic, he would know. He smirked. Of course he would know. He didn't go about figuring out how to manipulate and than extract this gene from his patients without first knowing if they had any magic within them to extract. Stories were never enough to go on, especially from the mouths of overwhelmed and fearful parents. If he asked the child to produce or repeat the action that had brought them to see him in the first place he was usually met with blank stares that looked just as scared as the weary mother and father.

He remembered all too well that expression.

The child had looked at him more than once with that weary expression. His mother the same.

So, he dedicated his work to finding out if the person in question had magic within them at all. He worked tirelessly througout the years, testing and experimenting with these patients, exploring their blood samples, picking away at their brains.

It could have been easier though. The boy could have made it all so much easier...

A squeal, followed by a rush of screams that seemed to echo through the small streets pulled him from his thoughts and had his legs working in the direction of the flow of shouting mingled with yelling that sounded so in need of help and full of panic.

The crowds he came upon seemed to be full of the tourists he had been looking for. They were all oblivious to him as he approached, all staring in wonderment at the sight that they had all swarmed around like they were at a petting zoo. Only the townspeople who knew him, acknowledged his appearence. He decided he didn't like it much and strutted to the middle of the group where he found a small child, a tourist of course, sitting against the stone of the street, a man, her father he supposed holding a white cloth to her head.

He could always smell the blood before he saw the cut, so when he saw the man holding the clean material to the blubbering childs forehead he couldn't understand why his senses seemed to be betraying him.

" I swear she was bleeding."

" I know....but she isn't. Look at the cloth."

The doctor cut deeper into the circle, pushing past the gossip, his eyes scanning the scene before him. He asked a local man he knew as a farmer not three miles from town what had happened. The man told him more so with his hands than his words that the child had been skipping along the brick wall that bordered the cafe where the tourists had all taken to having their breakfast in. She tripped and fell. She hit her head against the stone. She had been bleeding....he was sure of it.

" See...good as new kid."

The little girl was blinking up at the man still knelt next to her, a lopsided grin creeping against her cheeks. " Are you a doctor?"

" No." The man laughed, and than with the help of the girls distraught and gracious parents helped her to her little, clumsy feet. " Nothing to fix I guess. Just a bump on the head."

" I was so sure she was bleeding." The mother was sopping up tears that were rolling down her cheeks again. The father was shaking the rescuers hand with vigilance. " I was just so sure...Megan look at me...."

" Thank you so much son."

The man nodded, and than winked at the little girl still grinning like mad at him. " Be careful on your feet kid."

" Thank you Mister."

Samuel Grant felt an all to familiar emotion cloud his vision as the little family stole their daughter away to scold. His eyes narrowed on the blond man as he walked through the crowds...his duty done.

He watched as he was suddenly joined by another person, a woman....a very attractive woman.

Her hands were fisted at her sides. Her features were drawn and stressed. A very angry woman.

" Christ Rose! The kid was...."

" I know Malfoy! I get it! But I mean...you could have just got her to a doctor! You didn't have too..."

" To what? Watch what you say here Weasley...this tree might be bugged."

He watched the exchange of words as he floated closer to the two adults. They were young. Maybe in their early to mid twenties. They were definitley tourists. He grinned slightly at their clothing, their jackets and sweaters now wrapped about their waists.

" It's not funny...I told you..."

The man cut her off, his patience somewhat wearing with the conversation...or the red head. Samuel wasn't quite sure. " Oh drop it Weasley. You were about to do the same damn thing and you know it....so just drink the rest of your coffee so we can get on with this and report back to your bloody boss..."

" Shhh!!!"

Laughter flowed from the man. He received a slap from the woman now steaming under her own skin.

The doctor decided it was the perfect time to introduce himself.

" That was wonderful work you did for that young child."

He liked to surprise people. He had always liked the expression of awe on their faces when he walked into a room. It was like he had always exuded what he now had...but it wasn't until these two slowly turned to him did he ever really feel like something of a spectacle.

" For the little girl..." He waved a hand toward the child who was now sobbing again due to the reprimand she was getting from her now angry parents. " I was nearby....but I guess this time I just wasn't needed."

The woman was the first to speak, but her words tripped over one another as she did. " It was just an accident of course. Nothing too serious..."

" Of course not....but I think I may just take a look at her anyway, to see if that bump on her head could have any after effects."

The woman nodded, a strained smile rising on her young face. The man...the rescuer just seemed to stare at him from where he stood from behind the woman. His face was pulled, the smile he had just dawned suddenly gone.

" Because I'm the towns doctor."

" Oh? Well thats wonderful! I'm sure her parents will be more than happy to let you look at the child."

He stole another glance at the man, now taking a solid step forward, his body moving before the woman who seemed all too willing to chat to the apparent stranger. Samuel noted that the mans jaw was working under the skin of his face. His eyes looked fierce.

" We have to be going now ourselves."

" Well than...very good...I'm sure I'll see you again."

He held out his hand to shake with the young man. His hand stayed firm on the womans arms. All he did in response was curtly nod.

" And you as well dear girl." He turned his handshake on the woman. " I do hope to see you again. We hold heros in high regard around here. I'm Samuel Grant."

Her eyes flickered.

The mans eyes seemed to rage with a fire Samuel Grant had never seen before.

" I'm Rose."

His hand hung in the air, awaiting her touch. " It's very nice to meet you Rose."

She didn't have to shake his hand. She didn't have to even brush up against him within the crowd that they were now being swallowed whole in. He knew from the moment he caught sight of her. He could see it around her, like he could feel it within him....it was her. This woman. This girl.

This witch.

Her hand met his. " It's nice to meet you as well Doctor Grant."

The magic breathed around her, dusted against her skin and brought goosebumps all over his own body. When she pulled her hand from his grip he could still feel it there, still feel it sticking to his limbs, like it wanted to be there, like it needed to be there, all over him, within him.

" Rose! Let's go! Now!" The man was snapping off orders from behind her. Samuel glared at him for ruining such a perfect moment in his life.

" Cranky." The woman named Rose laughed. " Not enough coffee. We'll see you again I hope."

And she was gone with the blond man, their heads dissapearing quickly within the growing crowds....but he could still feel her.

He would see them again.

And when he did, he would take what was his and discard what was no longer needed.

Samuel Grant whistled the whole way back to his car.

Her magic was soon to be his.

* * *

" Where are you going?!"

Scorpius said nothing as he stormed through the streets, moving his way through the crowds with a pace that Rose had to jog to keep up with.

" Scorpius!"

He still remained quiet, his face was the only sign to many of the people who passed him or got in his way to move far away from the storm crashing along their path.

Rose squirmed her way through the onlookers, finally falling into a quick walk with the blonde wizard. She stole a glance at his expression and instantly cringed. His face was pulled with rage, his jaw was working once more, almost in an attempt to keep his mouth closed from what he was craving to say. His eyes were a cloud of black water that looked ready to swallow anyone whole and drain the life from them if need be.

He continued to walk, his hands fisting as he did.

Rose stayed at his side, her thoughts torn between the man she had just left behind, her investigation, her work and the man at her side. It bothered her that was more apt to Scorpius and what he was going through than her case that she had just left in the middle of the street with no more information about him than she had arrived with.

Her eyes passed over the strain buckling the tall frame of the man aside her.

They mounted a set of stone stairs, and she watched his gaze flicker from cafe to random houses to the people still littering the atmosphere around them.

" Please say something."

He grumbled incoherantly, before taking her hand in his in a quick movement and pulled her towards what looked like a vacant area that they had somehow arrived in.

Rose had enough time to catch her breath and it was only enough to feel her every limb begin the stilled process of apparation.

When she exhaled, she was standing in her hotel room back in Naples. Scorpius was already going about the room they had only left meer hours ago, his eyes now lit with the anger that had found it's way from the inside of his chest to the very surface of his skin.

" Where are you keeping the floo powder?!"

" What? Why?" She was still dazed from the shock of the apparation that she hadn't been ready for. Her head swam with the colors of her room, a sick kind of heat pressed against her and she felt a sudden urge to vomit. She lowered herself to her bed with the same questions on her lips. " Scorpius why?"

" I need to speak with my mother."

Panic mixed with the disorientation she was feeling dragged her further against the bed. She swallowed a breath in an attempt to clear her muddled mind.

" I need to ask her about him."

" Please don't do this."

" She lied to me Rose..." He snapped, running a frantic hand through his mess of hair. " She bloody well lied to me. Let me think that...that...that man...my father was dead!"

" You know she had her reasons."

" And that's what I want to know!" He opened her suitcase, keeping his glower only for the powder that he was searching for. " What was so horrible she kept me from him!?"

Rose felt her system returning to normal slowly, but it still wasn't what it should be in order to go up against the raging wizard and what he was trying to do. " Your mother wouldn't have done anything to hurt you Scorpius. You know that. If anything she kept him from you in order to keep you safe. You've read what he's done, what he's capable of....what if he had some idea as to what you were? What if he wanted to use you for his work?"

" We don't know that!"

She bit her lip when he shouted. He dropped his head when he caught her eyes lowering away from the monster he was turning into before her.

" I don't know that Rose. I don't know anything. But...that man...I knew him...I didn't remember him...I just...I knew him."

Rose waited for him to say something more, or to move in order to ransack the rest of her hotel room, but he didn't. He stayed on his knees, bent over her open suitcase, a look of defeat painted on his carved features.

How did it feel to not know where you came from? How did it feel to think that someone didn't want you or the people who raised you may have just been lying about your very existance? She didn't know. She had never asked. The decade or more that she was friends with Scorpius Malfoy those questions had never been a topic of conversation between them. They were too busy playing quidditch, spending time in detention with one another, fighting with one another...growing up along side one another.

And it had bothered him every day.

" In the desk drawer."

His eyes rose slightly to meet her gaze.

" The floo powder. It's in the bottom drawer."

Scorpius managed to lift his tired body off the floor. When he turned about from the open desk drawer with the black soot in his hand, Rose was standing along side of the fireplace she had requested in her room just for this specific reason.

" I suppose you're coming along to watch what I say than are you?"

She shook her head when he dumped a handful of powder into her open hand. " No."

" Than why are you coming?"

" Because." She stood along side of him, her hand hung out in the dead, warm air. " You would do the same for me."

And the neon green smoke swallowed her whole before him.

_**So I really wanted to bring Draco and Nora back into the story somehow and this was my way of doing so. The confrontation should be interesting. I haven't decided if I want Draco to have already know about Samuel Grant, or if he will be in the know for the first time. I think that could cause some conflict between two characters who aren't really my main focus in the story...but I'll let you all know in the next chapter.**_

_**Also, I haven't forgotten about the ulitmate romance between Scorp and Rose and I plan to have them come to blows again soon...I'm thinking I might have to take it farther between them though. I have a few different ideas for the next few chapters (hint: Ummm...what was Scorp dreaming about?") But I think that a baby might be a little cliche...but I also like the idea....I have no idea. I'll think on it.**_

_**So you all know where the story is heading on some level lol!**_

_**Please review! Breeva! xxx**_


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Undone

**Chapter Thirteen: Undone**

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

_**Note: Alright. Alot of information in this one. Nora and Scorpius had to have this talk. But I think I gave the chapter a bit of balance...I hope I did anyway...Review!**_

" They're not home."

Scorpius scowled about the kitchen. Rose stood against the counter, her arms fit tightly across her chest, her eyes focusing sharply on nothing imparticular. She decided it was better than looking at him and the expression painted on his face.

" Well....maybe you should stay here and wait for them to come home."

Scorpius grimaced and shot her a glower. " And where would that leave you? On your way back to Italy all by yourself? I think that may break the terms of our agreement Weasley."

Rose rolled her eyes. " Don't you think talking to your mum is a little more important right now?"

He said nothing.

She took a deep breath and glanced at the clock above his head. " Are you hungry?"

His eyes sparked slightly. " A little. You?"

" Eating would be better than sitting around in your parents kitchen glaring at one another all night. If you want to wait for them to come home, we can at least do something to keep us alive instead of thinking up ways to kill one another."

Scorpius nodded in agreement, his stomach suddenly making him very aware of how hungry he really was. He watched her open up a cupboard and pull out what looked like a box of noodles and tomato sauce.

" Well you can at least help Malfoy. I know your mother taught you better."

He grinned slightly, but only because her back was turned. Pulling his wand from the pocket of his coat he quickly had the a pot of cold water boiling on the stove before she had even gotten around to shredding the cheese for the pasta they were soon to consume. When she finally noticed the spell that he had cast while she had gone all muggle on the dinner before her, she smirked.

" I suppose you find that hilarious."

Scorpius laughed and stretched his limbs where he sat. Rose shook her head but continued to make the dinner without the use of her wand.

" And I thought you had given up on magic in general."

" Why would you think that?"

She shrugged as she walked across the kitchen and began to investigate the contents of the freezer. " Your parents....especially your father...always updated my parents on how you were doing when you moved to the states. I was always in ear shot of those conversations. Your dad seemed to think you had retired your wand the moment you landed in New York. Than Al visited you off and on through the years, and he always had loads to tell me when he came home. Like how he hated using muggle means of transportation and wished you would just install a fireplace at your loft or your work. I was surprised to hear that you hadn't the moment you moved."

" Didn't really see the need." Scorpius grumbled.

" Your father thought you were doing your best to cut yourself out of the world you grew up in."

He watched her remove the frozen chicken breast she had found in the freezer, from the microwave and went about cutting it into slices. " Were you?"

" Was I what?"

" Trying to cut us out of your life."

He noticed how her hands seemed to stall over what she was doing. When he looked up from the poor piece of poultry, he found her staring at him, the green of her eyes darkened as she waited for him to answer.

" Wasn't that what you wanted Weasley?"

" What?" Her eyes narrowed sharply. " What does that mean?"

Scorpius realized than that the woman had a knife in her hand, and for his own safety it was probably better to be moving around the room just in case she decided take a swipe at him if his mouth decided to speak before his brain had time to filter his words. " It just means the last time we spoke after graduation you made it pretty clear that our friendship was through."

" I was angry!" The knife came down hard on the cutting board as her body whipped around to meet a defenseless Scorpius.

" Well you made that pretty clear as well." He hadn't forgotten. Of course he hadn't forgotten. That conversation, the blending of words and childish jabs meant to hurt one another all those years ago still stung him today.

" You're still such a bloody child." She gave up on dinner and in another storm of emotion that was begging to attack her eyes, walked from the kitchen.

" I'm the child?!" He followed her and the emotion that was pooling around her. " I am?! I think you're bloody confused Weasley! I think you've forgotten what happened that day! I think you've forgotten how you asked me to leave! How you basically told me that I had made my choice and because you assumed it had nothing to do with you, we were done!!"

" It did have nothing to do with me!" Her body spun around again, this time her pointed finger replaced the knife she had abandoned. " Nothing! You didn't even consider me when you took that job!"

" Consider you!?" His muscles were tearing at his throat as his voice rose with a viciousness he had yet to feel. " All I thought about was you! All I considered was you and what would happen to us if I left! You honestly think that I just decided to pack up and leave you at the drop of a fucking hat Rose! I was a mess! I wanted that job! Yes, I wanted it! But I was sick over the thought of leaving you!"

" But you did!" Her entire frame shook when the words left her mouth. " You did! You never called! You never visited! You closed every door on me!"

" You slammed the fucking door first!"

He had enough. He felt his stomach twist as he turned away from the pain on her face. Again. All over again.

Rose had no idea why she did it. She had no idea why she suddenly felt such a need attack her. But it did. It pulled her under and tempted to drown her if she fought it. So she didn't. She couldn't.

His breath caught when her lips pressed against his. His hands braced in the air around them, even when her body formed to his and her hands found their way to his face, where she pulled him down to meet her kiss harder.

Her hands knotted in his hair, pulling herself closer to him. " I'm sorry." She breathed around him, the words sounding too close to a spell the witch was well equipped to cast.

" Rose." Her name was muffled on his lips, but it was spoken with a weakness he had never known he was capable of feeling.

It was than that he found himself deepening the kiss she was giving him, prying her delicate mouth open slightly and tasting her on his tongue for what seemed like the first time. His head spun when a soft moan escaped her, and her breath skipped inside of her lungs. His hand fisted in her hair, his fingers pulling at the soft curls than travelling to the nape of her neck where the skin there felt like silk. His mouth followed, dragging his teeth against her pulse, against her collarbone than back to her swollen mouth where he pulled at her bottom lip than caught her up in another storm that was reeking havoc on his system.

Scorpius felt himself losing control. He felt himself slipping again...as her mouth met his, her skin melted against his, her hands tangled in his hair he felt himself losing something he had always fought himself on when it came to this woman.

It broke inside of him. He felt it. That moment that clouded all judgement and left a person unarmed and untamed. His heart buckled in his chest. He was blinded.

" Rose." His voice wasn't his.

Her lips against his throat was all the answer he needed.

Moments later they found themselves back in Italy.

Back in his hotel room, lost in the sheets of his bed.

* * *

_His body shook everytime her fingertips slid across his skin. Her mouth made him weak. Her bare skin against his made him forget to breath._

_Her hands travelled over the lean muscles in his back that were strained and taught over her. She felt him shake when she touched him. She wondered if he could feel her do the same when his mouth met her lips. When his hands slid over her hips and his fingers begged every sensation that pooled from her. When her breath caught as his lips traced a line across her torso._

_He felt her back arch toward him when his body slid between her thighs. _

_His breathing was uneven. His heart was slamming against his chest. He lowered himself against her._

_Her hands ran through his hair when he dropped his head to rest in the crook of her shoulder. His lips brushed her neck._

_She felt him slide inside of her. She felt his body tense. Heard his breath catch in his throat._

_When he moved, he felt her gasp lightly. Felt her rise to meet him. Felt her skin as it heated along with his._

_He ran his lips across her mouth when he felt her body throb around him. The sensation threw him. His head collapsed against her chest. His mouth formed a curse that he had time to hiss between his clentched teeth before he could feel her begging for his mouth._

_He met her like she knew he would, his body straining and shaking with the same weakness she was feeling as it broke around them._

_He was deep inside her when they both came undone._

* * *

The sun streamed into the room.

It was early. Too early for either of them. Scorpius knew that. He flicked his wrist and the blinds that had been left open so dangerously the day before slid shut quietly. He let his gaze slip back to where Rose lay undisturbed, her head resting on the plush pillow, her hair gone wild from sleep...and other things.

He grinned. Her body was relaxed against his. Correction. Her very naked body was relaxed against his. There was no bloody way he was going to let something like morning disturb that. His grin lost to a smirk.

His eyes focused on her face. Her mouth was swollen and red. Her skin was flushed but glowing against the white sheets that now wrapped her up. There was a small red mark the looked a lot like a set of teeth scratched across her jawbone.

He chuckled.

A flash of forest green opened slowly onto the man laughing before her. " Something funny..."

Scorpius instantly set his laughter aside. It wasn't difficult. When the bloody woman stretched her every limb in front of him, he forgot what he had been laughing at anyhow.

" Ah. Morning."

Rose grinned lightly, feeling a blush of red threaten her cheeks. " Morning."

Scorpius watched her skin deepen into a shade of crimson. " Are you blushing Weasley?"

" Oh bite me Malfoy." She found her hand in the mess of sheets they had created and went to slap him across his bare chest.

He caught it gracefully before it had a chance of colliding with his skin. " I think I already did that." Scorpius smirked. " But if you want me to again...I'd be more than willing."

Her blush deepened and burned the skin of her face, especially when she realized just how much she wouldn't mind sporting another bite mark from the man lying next to her.

" Somehow I figured that." Her eyes shifted to the mess his hotel room was in.

" That's pretty forward of you Rose."

Rose shrugged where she lay. " Forward has new meaning when it comes to me and you Malfoy."

He chuckled and ran a hand threw his own mess of hair. " I guess so."

Silence took over the room than. Rose found herself glancing around the floor for her clothes that she was sure was never to be worn again.

Scorpius felt the awkwardness squirm it's way into the room.

" So..."

" Um..." Rose grabbed the sheets that were wound about him and did her best to cover herself. " So do you think you should head back to London? See your parents?"

" Rose..." His hand almost touched her, but she was quicker and in a flourish of movements she was out of the bed and grabbing at her clothes that lay in heaps on the floor with his.

" I just think you should still speak to your parents." She made a beeline for the door that attached their rooms, clutching at the sheet that wasn't doing the best job of hiding her assets from him. " And I'll stay her. I promise I won't leave the hotel until you get back."

His eyes narrowed in frustration as he sat up in the bed. " I can talk to mum anytime Rose."

He was using her name an awful lot. It sounded so strange coming from his mouth. The thought had her backing up hard against the door. " But it was so important to you yesterday. I really think you should at least speak to her before we come across Grant again. You know...work out your emotions before my investigation goes any further."

Scorpius waited for her to take a much needed breath. It wasn't shocking when she didn't.

" And besides both your parents are probably wondering how their kitchen ended up in such a state..."

He shook his head and plowed out of the bed, grabbing a pair of jeans off of the nearest chair where he had discarded them the day before. He bit his tongue as she rambled on and on from where she stood, still draped in a white sheet, still a mess of crimson on her head, still the same color harassing her cheeks.

" I have work to do here anyway. So I'll just grab a coffee and send some mail back to the Ministry."

" Fine." He snapped, once more biting off the words he wanted to scream and yell at her. " I'll go."

Rose blinked. He worked about the room, searching through a pile of clothes until he found a black tshirt and pulled it on over his head. " Okay."

" But mark my bloody words Rose." His finger came out in pretty well the same manner hers had the night before. His eyes were dark and daring looking and his jaw was set and clentched as he spit through a tight pair of lips. " You had better be here when I get back. If you think that because of last night it changes anything when it comes to our agreement, you're bloody well wrong. This is still a business agreement." His eyes sparked with the anger that was currently thrashing about inside of him. " Be here when I get back."

" Is that an order?!"

" Damn right it is."

Rose made a noise close to a scream before she slammed the door that ajoined their rooms on him.

Scorpius sank onto the bed that they had shared in peace not moments before. He wondered if he would ever feel it again.

Somehow he knew it was very unlikely.

* * *

" Your father seemed to think that someone had broken in." Nora Malfoy laughed briskly as she layed a steaming mug of coffee in front of her tired looking son. She ran a soothing hand over his hair and planted a kiss on his forehead before taking a seat across from him at the kitchen table. " I tried to explain to him that if anyone had broken in, his flat screen would be gone and my chicken wouldn't be lying in the bottom of the garbage right now."

Scorpius forced a small grin. " Sorry mum."

" Well, I assumed it was you...that or Lyra and Hugo decided to skip out on another day of school. Although your sister is apparently a vegetarian now...and I'm pretty sure that Hugo is not a fan of pasta in general which is odd seeing how Ron eats everything and anything...."

Nora smiled...but it drained on her lips quickly when she noticed more than just exhaustion staring back at her from her childs eyes. " Are you sick Scorpius?"

" No." He waved her off, before she had a chance to feel his forehead or stick a thermometer under his tongue. " No...I'm not sick."

" Well, what's wrong than?" He looked pale. Paler than usual of course. There was worry etched across his face. " Are you sure you're not sick? Is it Albus and Bree? Is it Rose?"

" Mum." He shook his head, settling her back into her chair. " No. Everyone is fine. Really. I...I just have to ask you something."

" Okay." Her head bent slightly. Her face stretched into expectancy.

" It's about..." Damn it...why this was hard he had no idea. Was it because he had not hours before stared the man in the face? Was it because he was scared his mother would continue to carry on the lie she had constructed for him when he was old enough to ask where his father was? Or was it because he knew she would tell him the truth...and the thruth was going to hurt him more than the lie ever could?

" Scorpius.." She had paled slightly as well. She felt the blood as it drained away from her face. " What is it?"

" Whose Samuel Grant?"

Her eyes stayed still. Focused. Her mouth formed a straight, thin line. Her hands tightened around the mug she was cradleing. " What?"

He didn't repeat his question. He just waited for her to answer the question that she of course had heard.

Nora blinked once before remembering in order to live she had to breath. Scorpius waited in a silence that absolved the kitchen into a deadly quiet.

When she finally found her voice, her words scratched off one another as tears threatened to spill out over her eyes. " Why are you asking me about Samuel?"

" Mum..." His hand wound it's way around his mothers whose was shaking where it lay on the table. He slowly slid the photo under his mothers cloudy gaze, that Rose had allowed him to take with him before he flooed back to his parents house. " Is that us? Is that my father?"

Nora shook her head in disbelief when she caught sight of the strangers staring back at her. She ran a hand across her cheeks as the tears she had fought to keep at bay rolled down over her cheeks. " Yes...it was."

The little boy holding a little stuffed green frog used to be her little boy. The man now sitting before her, stress and tension painted across his face replaced that child. The woman looking back at her was anything but that. She was a girl. Eighteen. It wasn't Nora Adair. It wasn't Nora Malfoy.

And the man. Her breath choked on her tears.

" Your grandfather offered me a trip to Italy for missing my graduation. He was always doing things like that when he divorced your grandmother and met his new wife. He had started a new family....discarded us." She wiped at a fresh set of tears. " I was seventeen when I left England. When I met Samuel I decided I was never going home. He was so wonderful, so handsome...intelligent. It was love at first sight I suppose...or lust...or something that I still have a hard time putting a name on."

Scorpius listened, his hand still on his mothers as she spoke through a pain that he couldn't understand. " I married him two weeks after I met him. Nine months later I had you."

Nora smiled spite the saddness tearing at her insides. " You were so beautiful. Everyone loved you. I loved you. It was like my life was suddenly so complete. I was married to a wonderful husband. I had a healthy baby. I had an instant family..." She shrugged. " I'm sure there is a psychologist screaming somewhere right now..."

He smiled grimly.

" But my happy life was all a lie. From the beginning to the end. The only thing real was how much I loved you. I found that out quickly." She stared down at the photo again. " I never even told Samuel my real name. Your grandfather warned me when I left for Italy not to give out any valid information about myself to anyone, so I didn't." Nora laughed as the words spilled from her mouth. " I told him my name was Maria...and once we were married I guess I just decided why tell him any different. I decided if I was going to have a new life, a new family...than why not have a new name. So I became Maria Grant. And you became Michael Grant."

His eyebrows raised at this. " My middle name?"

Nora nodded. " You hated that name as well."

Scorpius settled back into his seat while his mother continued to talk. " You were always a unique child. You were an even more unique baby. I didn't know how I would put you to bed with one bottle and in the morning I would fine two other empty ones in your crib. I had no idea why I sometimes would hear a frog croaking away through your monitor at night and when I would go to see what it was, that stuffed animal was sitting on top of your bureau. You were just an infant. You couldn't even hold your head up, but somehow you were summoning bottles of milk to your bed at night? It was crazy...I thought I was going crazy."

She settled her gaze back on the picture. " As you got older Samuel grew more and more frustrated with the bond that I had with you. He hired nannies to take care of you around the clock, demanded my presence at all times for his every award ceremony or speech that he was to give on his work. He had lost all interest in being a father, and his work consumed him. I was a trophy wife and you were a complication....that was until he saw with his own bloody eyes what you could do...what you were capable of."

" Samuel never believed me when I told him what you were doing. He of course thought I was spending too much time with you and demanded I see a therapist. I begged him to listen to me, but he wouldn't hear of it and began to spend more and more time working and less time at home. But one night he saw your magic first hand...and that was when his obsession started and I realized that I had to get you away from him."

" What do you mean obsession?" Scorpius had dragged his hand away from his mothers in fear he would hurt her.

" Crazed would be a better suited word." Nora breathed a deep sigh. " When you were two years old he wandered into your nursery and found you surrounded by a dozen or so floating blocks. The next day he hired some of the most well respected, well known scientists in the world to come into our home....your home and study you...as if you were something to disect...as if you were going to be their very own special experiment. I was disgusted. They wanted to test your blood and put you under a telescope. Samuel became more and more inclined at keeping you home. He fired the nannies he had hired. He kept you from other children. He wanted to be near you all the time....but it was for all the wrong reasons."

" For my magic." Scorpius spoke the words that he knew to be true. He had no reason not to believe his mother. The truth lay with her as well as the names of every child that Rose held so securely in her files from the Ministry.

" He said it made you different. He hated it. He wanted you to be normal...normal in his eyes and the eyes of society." Nora couldn't take her eyes off of her child as his blank expression twisted and contorted. " He had no idea that there was another world apart from his own...I had no idea. If I had maybe I would have dealt with things better...but at the time...when he began to steal you away from me...right out of my arms in order to prick you with a needle or hook you up to another kind of monitor....stealing you away from him...away from our home was the only way I could deal with it."

" You took me?"

Silence echoed off the walls again. Nora slowly tried to form the proper words. Scorpius waited.

" Your grandfather was a very powerful man Scorpius. He had ties all over the world, business and personal. He was well respected. Very respected. He always knew what I was doing, even when I thought he had forgotten about me. He knew the moment I married Samuel and the moment you were born. It was almost like he was watching me through the eyes of every stranger I met. He had friends in Italy. Powerful friends. Before you turned three I asked them to help me out of the mess I had made for myself and for you." Nora managed a deep breath. " I took you to the park that day. Your grandfather and these friends had a plane waiting for us just outside of the villa. An hour after we had taken off, these same men notified the police of a horrible accident that had taken place not far from where we lived. Before the plane touched down in London, we were dead and Samuel was left with two unidentifiable bodies..."

Scorpius stared into the silence, his mouth having a hard time at staying shut.

" He never asked questions. He held a memorial for us. He buried the bodies that he had no reason to doubt was his wife and son. He mourned in public...but behind closed doors his obsession with what you were, what you could do never stopped." Nora shook her head, reaching for his hand and squeezing it hard in order to get some kind of response other than shock out of her son. " I did what I had to do Scorpius. I had to protect you....I had to hide you from him. He would have never stopped. I just wanted you to have a normal life, a normal upbringing. I didn't want that man around you telling you that you were different, that there was something wrong with you and he was the one to fix it."

" I changed your name. Your grandfather had all the proper documents arranged. I became Nora Adair again...that was until I met your father."

" Dad..."

Nora nodded. " Draco knows Scorpius. It turned out he was much more understanding than I could have ever expected...of course we both know now that he had a few skeletons in his closet as well...I think that might have been the reason for the blow being so soft once I finally did tell him."

Scorpius sat back in his chair, finally feeling the tightness in his chest expand to every limb of his body. " You knew all along I was a wizard. Even before you met Dad."

His mother almost looked shocked for the moment. When her eyebrows sunk into almost amusement Scorpius knew he was spot on. " I never had a name to put on it love, and seeing how I'm only a non-magic muggle, how could you blame me." She smiled for the first time since the conversation had begun between them. " I knew you were special. I knew you were unique and I knew that one day I would fully understand why you were so special and unique."

" Lucky you married a wizard."

Nora laughed loudly, slapping her hand over her mouth as soon as it left her lips. " I suppose so."

Once the laughter subsided and his mother had found the situation and its seriousness again, Scorpius waited for the inevitable question. It took only moments for Nora to start asking her own questions.

" But how did you come across this?" She slid the photo back towards her son. " Why are you asking about Samuel?"

Even though he was aware that these questions were coming and even though he thought he was fully prepared to take them on and answer them with as much honesty as he could muster, his brain suddenly disagreed fully with his mouth. All of a sudden, he didn't really know who he was dealing with. Samuel Grant was still a mystery to him....but one that had cracks in it.

And those cracks made him feel a sense of dread he had never encountered before.

" Buisness."

Nora blinked before her eyes narrowed against her child. " Buisness."

" It's being dealt with."

" And that's all I get for an answer to my questions?"

Scorpius sighed deeply, finally feeling the stress of the past days events catch up on him. He dragged a limp hand through his hair as he rose from the table.

" Right now...yes."

His mother stayed where she sat, her golden eyes following his every movement, his every twitch. " And what do you suppose your father is going to say when I tell him we had this conversation Scorpius?"

" I don't know mum." He was ready to head back to Italy, even though his mother was much more welcome company than the woman he had waiting for him back at their hotel. " But as of right now, this is something that is being dealt with, without help from either of you. Like I said, it's just buisness...plain and simple."

It definitley wasn't enough of an explanation to pacify his mother, he knew that, but for the moment it was all he could give her. Before she could even open her mouth to protest he was kissing her softly on her cheek and making his way toward the fireplace.

" I know it's more that that Scorpius."

Nora didn't follow, just watched as her son scooped up a handful of floo powder.

He breathed an unsteady breath. " It is. But involving anyone else I care about in this mess isn't an option."

" Anyone else?" Nora rose from her chair, panic fusing inside her chest. " Scorpius?!"

But he was gone, the only reminder that her son had even been in her precense, an untouched cup of tea, a plume of neon green smoke climbing it's way up the walls of her living room and a picture still staring at her from the kitchen table, the mans eyes she had once known forever frozen with a danger that Nora feared her son would not be able to see.

_**Well, hello.**_

_**I've been away for quite sometime and when I came back to this story I laughed because it was finished and I just had not posted it. Silly me right?**_

_**Anyway Im sorry for taking so long. But I promise I am back to finish this no matter what!**_

_**Comment if you like!**_


	15. Chapter Fourteen: The day after the Fall

_**Chapter Fourteen: The day after the fall**_

**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.**

His hands were fisted. His skin was burning. Every muscle he had, worked in rage.

He could only see simmering hot red. It almost sparked in his vision.

Scorpius stalked the foyer that led to the front desk. His lips were turned in a sneer, one that his father would have been proud to see reflected on his son.

He saw no one and heard nothing as he found his way through happy pleasantries and attempts to catch his eye.

The only focus now was Rose.

" How can I help you today Mr. Malfoy?" The receptionist's smile was wide and her expression welcoming toward him, that was until she saw his jaw twitching under his fair skin. " Is everything okay, sir?"

" The woman." He bit his tongue in order not to scream obsenities. " The woman that I arrived with. Has she passed through here this morning?"

" Oh yes Mr. Malfoy." The woman with the nametag that read Emile turned her back to him and returned just as quickly with an envelope in her hand. She passed it to Scorpius and he did his best not to snatch it from the dripping sweet receptionist. " Ms. Weasley left this for you not too long ago."

His name was scribbled on the front of the parchment in what was her perfect handwriting.

Scorpius said a quiet thank you through gritted teeth and started for the swinging doors that led out into the late morning sun, his fingers the entire time struggling with the envelope.

When he finally opened it, flames licked through his body.

_When have I ever listened to you_

_Rose._

A surge of fresh anger threatened to coming thrashing from his lips, but he swallowed and continued his assault on the pavement beneath him.

Scorpius kept his head down as he walked into the town, only looking up to scan a busy cafe, or a group of over energized tourists, in order to pluck out a certain mop of blood red hair. He wondered if anyone would blame him for hauling her back to England by it.

If they heard his side of the story they wouldn't. And seeing how he had just found out that his childhood was merely a storyline out of a soap opera and that he had a crazy witch pulling dissapearing acts on him all over Italy, Scorpius would have bet Adair Contracting that no one in their right mind would dare put any kind of blame on him.

If they saw the condition he was in at the moment he was certain they would have helped him bind and gag that same witch for what she was doing to him presently as well.

Stress mixed with panic skipped across his face. His clothes were wrinkled from a night of lying in a heap on the floor of his hotel room and his hair had not change since he was forced to lift his head from a pillow, that pillow being on a bed that he had had no desire to move from ever again.

The night before slid through his mind again, a heated reminder to add to his growing frustration.

The roads remained busy as he walked, slipping through the villagers with a pace that looked uncommon to some. He fumbled for his mobile, but than released it when he quickly realized that Rose was the last person who would ever own such a muggle contraption.

It was only when it began to vibrate in his pocket where he had just placed it again did he wonder if she had secretly given into the muggle world and it's technology. He hoped. He prayed.

" Hello?"

" Scorp?"

His father. Of course it was his father. " Hey dad."

" Where are you? I can barely hear you?"

" You called my mobile dad. I guess the reception isn't the greatest." Scorpius talked as he kept his eyes wide on his surroundings, the object of flaming red still his focus. " You were talking to mum?"

Draco ignored the question. " Where are you?"

" Can't tell you that Dad."

" Why?"

" I just can't."

Scorpius heard his father sigh. The pause sounded against his ear.

" What do you think I did when your mother told me about Samuel Grant?"

Scorpius said nothing. He was pretty sure he knew the answer.

Draco continued, his voice rough. " I think you forget sometimes that I used to be a deatheater. When your mum told me what you both had escaped from, I went to the Ministry and demanded any and all information I could get on Samuel Grant without bringing the entire place down on their heads."

" And what did you find out?"

" Probably not as much as I'm guessing you know now. " Draco removed his glasses, rubbing at the bridge of his nose in anxiety. " You were going into second year. We had just gotten through a year where I had almost lost my family, and what I did find out...well, it didn't seem important. The man knew nothing of you and your mum, as far as he was concerned you were both dead and he had moved on from it."

" You sound like you know all this first hand dad?"

Silence crept across the line for a small moment before Draco spoke once more.

" It wasn't enough to just have files and pictures in my hand on the man who was once so involved in the lives of both you and your mum. Like I said, I had just almost lost you both as well as Lyra, and that feeling was something I was never going to experience again."

" I met him. He had no idea who I was, my name, where I was from"

Scorpius felt the same initial fear he had felt the moment that he realized Rose was gone from the hotel surface in his stomach.

" But he knew what I was."

That fear rose in his throat like bile.

" I knew it instantly, that he knew I was a wizard...and everything that I felt from him was wrong." Draco couldn't help his tone. It was as if Scorpius was ten years old again and he was cautioning his son against running into the street after a rogue football.

Scorpius blinked into the hot sun, trying to swallow his fathers words. His eyes searched more frantically now, the people who met his focus only blurs and shadows.

" Scorpius, listen to me. He's dangerous."

The panic was not empty from his voice as he staggered his words. " I know."

" Than you've met him?"

" Dad I have to go."

" Scorpius...."

" We're coming home."

Draco stammered to speak but was left with a dead line and the realization that his son wasn't alone.

* * *

She was too distracted to notice that he was watching her. That he had been watching her for the last hour.

She had arrived with the sun, her hair a tumble of exotic red pinned on top of her head. She was blending well with the people around her, from the white blouse that adorned her intoxicating frame to the brand new sandals that she wore on her feet.

Samuel cocked his head with interest when he noted the papers layed out before her. The focus that she held for her work had his excitement bending and twisting inside of his chest. He made the connection quickly of course. If she was this intrigued and simply studied when it came to mere office work, her magic was defintley of great importance to her. Great pride to her.

The aura that the witch's magic produced floated around her, it's haze shimmered and danced off of her creamy skin. He could feel it like he had before, strong and vital as it vibrated off of her body and reached him where he sat.

He inhaled deeply, a shiver running the length of his spine.

Presently he was stalking her. Soon he would descend on her. The fact that she had no idea he was watching her, that he was waiting for her, that just made him all the more hungry.

It inamored him. The entire scenario. It was the hunt.

Rose decided she was never going to sleep again. One more coffee and she was sure to never close her eyes for the duration of her life.

She smiled lightly at the waitress when she layed another mug down on her table, keeping her eyes low on the work that she had been browsing over since mid morning. The cafe was busy, people all around her at every table, conversing and drinking their own poision of choice.

He was taking his time. She wondered why. She assumed he would have been sitting across from her by now, asking studious questions, laying his charm on thick. Rose had to remind herself that he really had no reason in wanting to speak with her again. In the same thought though, she also had to keep in mind his immense character profile that she herself had researched and filed.

Samuel Grant would speak to anyone who would listen, especially if the topic was him.

She smirked at the thought.

Running a hand through her hair she decided that she had had enough coffee and enough waiting for one day. It was only a matter of gracious time before Scorpious found her and if it was in that time that she found basically nothing out about the man seated not feet away from her, than the day was nothing but a complete write off.

Her eyes narrowed.

If Samuel was anything like his son, Rose was willing to bet it would take very little to attract him to her table.

Leaning against her chair she stretched her body, letting her hair escape from the pin she had held it in earlier that morning. She ran a hand over her collarbone and neck, attempting to make it look like she was suffering from the heat.

Her eyes widened slightly when a male waiter planted a tall glass of cold water in front of her, a smile stretching the length of his face. Obviously her little show had gained her more attention than she was banking on. She accepted the water with a small thank you and decided against any of her own ideas ever again, without some kind of sane supervision.

" Rose?"

On second thought.

Samuel Grant was already taking a seat next to her, his hand out in order to take hers in it. She managed a smile as wide as she could muster, and relented to the man brushing his lips across her fingers.

" Doctor Grant."

" How nice it is to see you again lovely girl!"

Rose nodded keeping her smile pleasant and inviting. She tried so hard not to study him too hard, but it was proving impossible.

She wasn't worried about any lack of conversation between them. The doctor started in on the day and how beautiful it was, how he was just in the city for the day, returning to Sicily in the morning.

While he talked, she nodded and continued to smile, making sure that he was confident in her appreciation for every word he was spouting even if she wasn't listening.

Scorpius had his eyes. In color anyway. Deep, almost ocean blue. She wondered if they darkened and stormed like his son's when he was met with anger of frustration.

But other than the color, there was no comparison between the two men.

There was more likeness between Draco and Scorpius.

" And where is you're friend today my darling?"

Rose blinked, coming out and away of the trance she had let herself slip into.

" Scorpius?"

Samuel nodded, urging the girl to give him the information he needed in order to continue his plans for the beautiful witch before him.

" Oh he had a few things to do take care of back at the hotel this morning. We're supposed to meet later for dinner, maybe see some more of the coast line."

" He's left you all alone?" Samuel shook his head in a quiet victory. " Well, he must not really see the beauty that he has before him. If he did, he would have never left you to your own devices. The island is full of elidgable bachelors who I'm sure would love to be on your arm my dear."

Rose felt a shiver crawl up her spine, but she forced a wicked grin unto her lips in spite of it.

" That's very kind of you Doctor Grant."

He ran a hand through his salt and pepper colored hair, eyeing her through his glasses.

" Compliments are given when they are due Rose."

She let her eyes travel across his face. He was talking again, this time about his work and his never ending strife to help the ailing populations of the world.

" That's so admiral of you."

Samuel nodded. He had heard it before and it never failed him upon hearing it again.

" I mean, helping people. It's such noble work." Rose managed a small blush. " I have to admit something. When we met yesterday, I recalled your name when you introduced yourself. When I was in University, I took a course on foreign diseases and your name, well it came up an awful lot. You have done so much within the world of medicine..."

Rose felt the hairs on her arm rise. He was enjoying this thourougly.

She slid her eyes slowly, until they fell against his once more. " It's so intimidating to meet someone of your stature."

He was about to say something, about to grace her words with his agreement no doubt, but something stopped him. Quickly.

" Well hello there Scorpius!"

Rose cringed.

Samuel stood up, holding his hand out in order to properly welcome the man as his approach grew closer.

Scorpius ignored the handshake once more, his focus only on Rose.

The doctor stepped back slightly upon seeing the expression that was tainting the young mans face.

" Rose wasn't expecting you until later this evening." Samuel openly winked toward the woman now sending a savage look toward her friend. " I was more than willing to take her off your hands until that time."

" That won't be necessary." Scorpius managed to rip his eyes away from Rose for the smallest second. His voice was prickled with an uncontrolled rage he had never felt before. That rage found it's outlet when it landed on the man who was his father. " We're leaving."

" Leaving!" Samuel felt her slipping away from him instantly. " Why ever so? You just arrived!"

Rose was on her feet, sending apologetic smiles toward Samuel as well as the people in the vicinity, of whom Scorpius had managed to petrify.

" Scorpius..."

" Don't Weasley. We're leaving. Now."

His hands were immediatley busy, gathering the papers that she had left out on the table and fishing money out of his pocket to cover whatever the bill was.

" Scorpius." His name was said through gritted teeth. " Let's just go back to the hotel. Talk about this."

" Oh yes, please change your impromptu plans! There is still so much to see!"

When Scorpius turned sharply, Rose grabbed his arm. His hands were clamped into fists, his face was burning red and his eyes, the terror was so thick within them they looked unhuman.

" Scorpius...." Her hands kneaded at his coat, pulling him toward her body and away from a startled looking Samuel. " Please! Don't!"

He felt her close to him, that much farther from the danger that was before him. He stepped back. His hands loosened, but his eyes stayed fierce.

" Scorpius..." Than her hand was on his face, pressing him to look at her, begging him to look anywhere but Samuel.

His eyes stayed solid on his father, but with every plea that Rose spoke, and the warmth of her skin against his, it envolked reason back into his murderous thoughts.

He eventually found her through the sea of crimson blinding his vision.

Her eyes were huge, fearful. Her bottom lip was trembling. " Let's go."

Samuel watched them walk away from him. No apology. No second glance.

She just took his hand in her own and led him away, like he was a wounded animal.

He could see that Scorpius was going to be a problem. A very big problem. But aside from causing him grief, he had also helped him in the exact same breath.

Rose now had a last name.

Samuel wondered how difficult it would be to find her in England.

He grinned. He was willing to bet, not very.

_**Okay so I know I haven't posted in maybe a year....but the story is still on my computer and I hate to leave anything unfinished so I am going to try and do so lol. Forgive me if this chapter was boring as hell because it really was, but in order to kick start the entire plot line again I suppose it needed to begin somewhere, so if you're still interested bare with me! xxx Breeva**_


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Dinner plans Interupted

_**Chapter Fifteen: Dinner plans interrupted**_

_**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them **_

**Two months later**

" My brother is an idiot."

Rose smiled lightly at Lyra, her eyes shifting from the computer screen before her to the teenager slumped in the seat across her desk.

" Lyra..."

" Oh come on Rose! Honestly! He's being a bloody arse, I mean has he even tried to call you?"

Rose sighed, realizing that her work had no other choice but to wait. She leaned against her chair and stretched the ache running the length of her back.

" And why would he try and call me?"

Lyra was pulling at what could have been a split end, the strands of her hair now a bright neon pink. Her expression was one of simple annoyance.

" Because I have no doubt he's the one who screwed up."

Rose shook her head, being sure not to react to the conversation she had no way out of.

" Also, he's been ringing mum and dad more often, which leads me to believe that he's trying to see how you are." She made another face, her sharp grey eyes rolling in her head. " How's Al and Bree? James? Did Hugo make the quidditch team this time around? Rose?"

Rose herself chuckled as Lyra continued to mock her older brother, her voice a perfect replication of Scorpius at his worst. " And Mr and Mrs. Weasley?....blah, blah, blah.... He's so full of it."

" Maybe he's just wondering how everyone is Lyra."

The youngest Malfoy smirked. " I don't think I have ever talked to my brother so much before in my entire life. I swear he calls so much, whenever the phone rings mum and dad are fighting over who has to answer it!|

Rose muffled a laugh, her fingers brushing against the keyboard before her.

" And Hogwarts is about to put a time limit on my phone calls!"

" You're over-exagerating."

Lyra sighed, this time slipping her mobile out of her pocket. Rose could only assume from the small smile that replaced a perfect scowl, Hugo was at the other end of the text Lyra was grinning at.

" Well, I better get going. Mum wanted to know if you can make it to dinner on saturday. Your parents are coming and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny." Lyra was on her feet, texting as she walked toward Rose's office door. " I think Al and Bree are coming too."

" I'll try and make it hun."

" You sound like Scorp."

Rose shook her head when the pink haired witch danced from her office, glued to whatever messages Hugo was sending her and practically banging into employees as she went.

The scene looked all too familiar to Rose, minus the technology. A Weasley and a Malfoy, second generation. Rose sometimes wondered if Mr. Malfoy and ever entertained the idea of one another in a complete non-hateful way. The notion wasn't too out there even though she knew herself that Draco and Hermione themselves would probably have cringed at the thought, even to this day....

She grinned, but it slowly faded from her lips. Running her hands once more across the small of her back she stood up and walked the length of her office, stretching her tired limbs.

He hadn't yelled. He hadn't even slammed a door. They had arrived back at the hotel, Rose all too prepared for the eruption that was Scorpius Malfoy to explode, but he had said as little as possible as he packed his suitcase, and waited patiently as she packed her own.

They didn't fly home, but flooed. Rose supposed it suited him to get away from her as quickly as possible.

Her eyes focused in on the work that had been building on her desk since the moment she had returned from Italy.

Scorpius had said nothing to her when he stepped back into her fireplace. He just dissapeared and left her standing alone in the middle of her living room.

Two days later Lyra confirmed to her that her brother was back in America.

He never called.

She never expected him to.

Rose sighed, squeezing her eyes tightly together as a dull pain twitched in her head.

She couldn't forget his expression the day that he had found her with Samuel Grant. The panic mixed with so much anger that had been tangled with anxiety strectched across his sharp features, that image was carved in her mind.

That, and how he had softened when he found her through his turmoil and angst.

Her heart bumped off her chest. Her stomach turned.

Rose took a deep breath and threw up.

* * *

Samuel Grant had dropped off the face of the planet.

Literally, Scorpius could find no indication of the doctor, no matter what means he used to do so.

Usually if human means failed he always had magic close at hand to back him up, but this time. this one time when he needed an outcome the most, there was none to be found.

His muscles were strained under his wrinkled black shirt. His head was throbbing with the onset of a headache and his eyes were burning behind his glasses.

He was worried.

Scorpius growled under his breath when another dead end lit up the screen of his computer. He didn't know why it was so important to find the man who was his father, or why he felt sick to his stomach whenever he let himself think too hard on the last time he saw the man, but Scorpius knew it was important. Vital.

The way he looked at her, what could have been lust steaming in the man's eyes...Rose so obviously the object of that lust.

He pushed away from his desk and began to pace the length of his office, running a hand through his untamed hair in frustration.

The night they had returned home from Italy, Scorpius had wasted no time. Returning to his parents home, he demanded his father answer every question he could think up in regards to Samuel Grant. Draco did his best, a silent acknowledgment between father and son that Rose and her safety was at stake and priority.

Calls were made, some to the ministry of magic, others to the muggle prime minister, Draco using his influence in both worlds in order to gain more information and agreement that the doctor would be immediatley under constant survellience and scrutiny. No questions were asked and for that Draco was satisfied.

Scorpius wasn't.

And now that Samuel Grant had somehow evaded his every attempt to find him, he was on edge and primarily, ready to snap.

" Your mum told me you installed a fireplace....but fuck me, I had to see it to believe it."

Scorpius rounded on the voice, his fists readied but quickly relaxed when he found Albus standing before him wiping at the ash on his dress coat.

" Jesus Al! You scared the hell out of me!"

Al held up his hands, a grin planted on his face. " Cool it Malfoy. I've come to excort you to your parents house. Lyra mentioned something about using force if I have to, but I'd really rather not seeing how you look ready for a fight and I'm an old married man. Honestly, I barely have enough strength to carry Bree's purse from shop to shop."

Scorpius shook his head. " Now for that I should pop you one."

Al laughed, as he glanced about the office. " Busy as usual I see."

Looking for his coat, Scorpius only grunted his agreement.

" So...have you spoken to my cousin lately, or are you still acting the part of massive arse hole."

He winced slightly. " I'm going to assume that's the majority vote."

Al shrugged. " Lucky for you Rose has opted out of the festivities tonight."

" Why?" Scorpius didn't know if he was relieved or dissapointed as he shrugged on his coat.

" Mum said she's not feeling well. Uncle Ron is bringing her a plate of food after dinner."

" What's wrong with her?" Oh merlin. His stomach was turning again, anxiety tearing at his insides.

" Dunno really, merlin Scorp can we go? I'm starving!" Albus was already waiting by the fireplace. " You do realize that my wife burns water and I haven't eaten since we got married!"

While Albus continued to rant about his shit luck when it came to his appetite, Scorpius was sinking farther into worry. He was sure he was going to have ulcers.

" Are you coming?"

" Right behind you."

Albus rolled his eyes and dissapeared in a storm of green smoke.

Scorpius lied.

Albus knew it.

* * *

" I'm fine mum...yes...yes Im drinking lot's of fluids...tell Mr and Mrs. Malfoy Im sorry I couldn't make it..."

Her mother continued to harass Rose with requests that quickly turned into demands when it came to her only daughters health.

" I'll visit a healer on monday mum...I'm sure I'll make it until then...."

Rose sighed, listening only when necessary. " Okay mum. Okay...I'm gonna go and lay down now....okay. Love you too. Tell everyone I said hello....okay...love you.... Bye mum."

She replaced the phone and quickly disconnected it from her wall.

Other than the fact that her head was splitting and her stomach was in constant expulsion mode, Rose was just not in the mood to deal with her extensive family at the moment.

She lay down again, grabbing a fresh cold cloth as she did and placing it over her eyes.

Rose tried to sleep, shifting her body under a blanket that her grandmother had made her years before. She tried to stop thinking. Tried to slow her mind and take it away from her work that was still collecting on her desk, or the meetings that she had to attend when she finally felt well enough to go back to the ministry. There was so much to do. And now she had to make time to see a bloody healer, when she wasn't even really that ill.

And she had just seen the healer a month before.

A month ago.

Dates mixed with weeks mixed with numbers suddenly attacked her train of thought.

When she went to take a deep breath though, someone beat her to it.

" Well merlin Weasley. You've looked better."

She sat up fast, the cloth slipping unto her stomach only to reveal a pale Scorpius standing in the middle of her living room.

" What are you doing here?" Two weeks? No three weeks? She couldn't remember....why couldn't she remember?

" Al told me you were sick."

" So you just show up announced after two months without even so much as a phone call?"

Two months? Two months!

Scorpius decided to ignore her comment. He was more concerned with the look of terror attached to her expression.

" Are you okay Weasley?"

He was following the pajama clad witch to her kitchen while he spoke, wondering if by some chance she was trying to make it to the sink in order to throw up. She looked about ready to anyway...

When he noticed her flipping through her calendar he rolled his eyes and took a seat at the table. " What are you doing Weasley?"

" Shut up! Just shut up for a minute!"

He blinked at her tone.

Her fingers were shaking as she counted the square boxes and tried to do what was the hardest math she had ever had to do before in her life.

" Rose?"

" Oh merlin...."

" Are you okay?"

This time she really did take advantage of her sink. Scorpius could only watch in horror as she emptied her stomach into the metal basin, while tears stained her cheeks.

" Rose!"

He watched as she lifted a trembling hand toward him in an attempt to obviously shut him up. Scorpius planted himself next to her, while she continued to wretch, until she reached for a cloth and turned the faucet on in order to rinse the bile from the sink.

" You're going to St. Mungo's now."

" Scorpius..."

" Now Rose." He was going about her house like he lived there, grabbing a random coat and any pair of shoes that he could find. " I'm not kidding Rose! I mean right now!"

" Scorpius!"

" Merlin help you if you try and fight me on this Weasley! If I have to I'll throw you over my damn shoulder!"

" That's not a good idea."

She was lowering herself to a chair, while Scorpius readied himself to hoist her in his arms.

" And why the hell not?"

She finally lifted her eyes to his. They were sick with worry.

" Why not Rose?"

Words she never thought she would use, spilled from her lips.

" Because I'm pregnant Scorpius."

_**Muah ha ha ha. Shouldn't have ended it like this, but I figure why not. I have an exam that I have to study for and this part of the story really does deserve my full attention... So I will try and do my best for the next chapter. Hope everyone is still with me! Thanks Darinmeg! Good to hear from you again!**_

_**Breeva **_


	17. Chapter Sixteen: He has your Eyes

_**Chapter Sixteen: He has your eyes**_

_**All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them **_

Two could play at this game.

That was his frame of mind upon realization that he was being watched with unseen eyes.

Samuel smiled to himself, his fingers tapping against his arm rest. The women next to him was snoring lightly, her head every so slowly dipping closer and closer to his shoulder.

He shifted in his seat. Even in first class it was impossible to stear clear of the passengers who always seemed to choose his arm as a pillow. He would have been disgusted or infuriated as a curl of silver hair danced across his dress jacket, but at the moment he was distracted with more pressing matters.

Someone had been tracking him. Of course it had started quiet enough, quiet enough that he didn't even quite catch on.

But Samuel was sure it wasn't long before he realized that someone was decoding his passwords and pin numbers in an attempt to keep tabs on him.

A normal person would have immediatley contacted the proper authorites and chopped all their credit cards into little pieces, but Samuel, he had decided against it.

It took very little to put two and two together, and somewhere in the middle he knew Scorpius Malfoy was to be found.

Only question...why?

His laptop hummed to life, immediatley all his files and icons at hand.

" I wonder where you are today darling girl..."

The women next to him snorted.

Samuel shifted farther away and tapped away at the information he himself had collected on Scorpius and his dear Rose.

Oddly enough, there was no documentation on their schooling and even their line of work or past career paths. It had puzzled him for the moment, but if Scorpius was tracking him the way that he expected than Samuel assumed that the boy had money as well as protection. A protection that was being accessed to it's full potential obviously.

But of course he would soon have all the answers soon enough.

He scanned the faces of the two young adults.

Rose. Smiling so sweetly. She was astounding. A classic beauty. It seemed only fitting that she had so much power.

He wondered how it would feel to be near her again after so long. He hoped he would feel the same electricity that was so apt to slip from her skin when he was close to her.

His muscles twitched with anticipation at the thought.

Samuel than looked to the photo of Scorpius then. He had never figured out his relationship to Rose, but it didn't take a genius to see that the boy felt strongly for the girl. Too strongly if that was possible. He knew a brick wall when he saw one, and Samuel knew that Scorpius was his brick wall.

A brick wall that he had to demolish.

His eyes narrowed on the blonde man staring back at him from the computer.

But he wondered why it even had to come to that.

Why was this man tracking him? Why was Samuel's day to day life so important to him?

Did he know what Samuel wanted with Rose?

" He's a very handsome young man."

The women with the silver hair had come out of her comatose state, and was now peering over his shoulder, a sweet smile that could only belong to a grandmother light on her thin lips.

" He looks a little like my grandson..."

Samuel kept his focus on the computer screen, nodding only to be polite.

" He looks like you."

His eyes narrowed, this time on the small women. " Pardon me?"

" The boy..." A perfectly well manicured finger pointed at the screen. " He looks like you. The eyes I think."

Samuel slowly looked once more at the screen. He blinked, while a million flashes of a past life stormed a mind that had forgotten so quickly.

The women smiled again at the computer. " Handsome...like father like son."

And it all made sense.

His fingers curled into fists.

His skin turned pale.

The remnants of the boy he thought was buried and gone came screaming through a lost memory.

" Michael."

* * *

" Scorpius I can bloody well check myself in!"

He cringed when a purse was shoved into his abdomen, while the obstetrics unit at St. Mungo's came to a hushed silence, followed by knowing and sympathetic stares from the male occupants already sitting in the more than full waiting room.

" And I'm warm enough so stop pushing your damn coat on me!"

Scorpius watched in complete and utter terror as the walking hormone that was once human, fixed her glare on the thin, blonde receptionist behind the glass window. At the moment he wished he was behind the protective glass as well.

" Name please?"

" Rose Weasley."

" Weasley...." Small blue eyes scanned the clipboard in a pair of tiny, delicate hands. " Rose Weasley..."

Panic pricked at his insides

" I'm sorry Ms. Weasley, I can't seem to locate your name on todays appointments are you sure you were to see the doctor today?"

Rose felt her nails blend against her skin. When her eyes flipped toward Scorpius, he immediatley took a step backward.

" Did you book the appointment?"

" Of course I did!" He rounded Rose as if she had some kind of contagious disease, his features stamped with _Help me. _" I did. Hi. Hello....can you please just check again. I called yesterday and booked the appointment for Ms. Rose Weasley..."

The receptionist barely caught on to his plea. " No I'm sorry sir-"

" Check. Again."

The blonde women blinked. She may not have been able to read, but there was no problem with her hearing.

" I can't believe you didn't book the appointment.."

" I did." He hissed at her, than thought better at the snarky comments that were blending through his brain. " I did. They must have made a mistake...just go sit down Rose. I'll figure it out."

When she turned to find an empty seat, he could hear her mumbling something about nine months, idiot and gaining weight all in the same breath.

" Please!" Scorpius rounded on the receptionist. " I just found out I'm going to be a father in less than nine months and to be honest, I didn't take to the shock all too well....so you can understand if I forgot to book the damn appointment, but she..." He thumbed toward Rose who was ripping through a magazine where she sat. " She will not understand!"

" Sir..."

" No." Merlin he was going to vomit. " Honestly, just between you and me I'm not even sure if she is a she anymore and Im scared if I go back there and tell her I forgot to make a simple phone call she's going to try and eat me!"

Rose watched Scorpius out of the corner of her eye as he made his way toward the seat she had almost decided against saving for him.

" Well?"

Scorpius slumped into the seat next to the women, her eyes begging him to confess that he had forgotten to book her appointment after all.

" I told you it was just a mix up." There was actual sweat collecting on his forehead. " The doctor can see us in fifteen minutes."

" Oh." She turned her attention back onto the magazine that she had no interest in. At the moment it was better than conversing with the sudden annoyance sitting next to her.

Scorpius Malfoy had always been a good source of irritation for her and from the time they were in Hogwarts up until two days ago, it had been an irritation she had dealt with...but that changed in the last 48 hours.

Now, the wizard seemed to have a grinding effect on every last nerve she could muster, even when his mouth wasn't working.

" Do you want me to come in with you?"

Her eyes could have acted like a bullet. " What kind of question is that?"

Scorpius bit his tongue. Actually he was beginning to entertain the thought of cutting it out, or at best sewing his mouth closed.

" Jesus Weasley, it's a bloody question."

" Oh like all the questions you had for me two days ago?"

He removed his glasses, rubbing hard at his temples.

" You're what? Are you sure? How can you be sure?...." She flipped harder through the magazine in her hands, her voice thrown with indeniable sarcasm " I don't understand? How did this happen?"

" Christ! You were lucky I could even string two words together let alone full sentences! What did you want me to say?"

Rose shrugged. " Maybe something a little more realistic instead of stealing lines from the movies."

" You're bloody craz-"

" Ms. Weasley. The doctor will see you now."

Scorpius was on his feet before Rose, all animosity toward the women suddenly vanquished and replaced with utter nausea.

The same receptionist led the two of them toward the farthest office, winking at Scorpius before closing the door.

" Well that's great."

" What?"

Rose ran a hand over her hair that was tangled and just as disoriented as she was. " She's pretty, and just think, one day you'll have a great story to tell our child about how you met his or her step-mother."

Scorpius began to take long, steady breaths as he lowered himself once more into the office chair. " Rose."

" I mean, weekends and holidays with you..." Why was her voice shaking? " Weekdays with me. Two christmas's, two birthdays....two mothers..."

Tears were racing down her cheeks before she had time to even try and control herself, but once she started it was impossible to stop.

Scorpius suddenly found himself in the same room with a sobbing, trembling pregnant woman whose words were a mesh of laughter and tears.

" Rose."

She felt his hand close in on her elbow, the other on the small of her back. Her reaction was to shake him off, maybe even bruise him in the process but her sudden onset of wired emotion had her turning her face into his chest.

His arms pulled her tight to him and he said nothing, just let her cry and get on with all the nonsense she wanted.

When she began to quiet, he rubbed her back softly, feeling his own chest throbbing against her's.

" You don't have anything to worry about Rose."

She sniffed. " I don't do I?"

" No." Scorpius grinned down into her swollen, red eyes, still gleaming like emeralds. " I'm not into blondes."

* * *

" You're what?"

Silence gripped the family members seated around the Malfoy's kitchen table.

" Um...pregnant."

Her father looked an odder shade of red she had ever seen before. Her mother was frozen with a cup of tea mid way to her lips.

Scorpius looked as if he was bracing himself for the inevitable throttle he was about to receive.

Nora and Draco looked undeniabley stunned.

" We just came from St. Mungo's..."

" You're what?"

" Dad, please...."

Ron was on his feet, Draco following suit but more to protect his son who was suddenly backing toward the nearest exit.

" Ronald sit down!"

" How did this even happen!"

" Well I could paint you a picture dad, but I think it might end Scorpius up in the hospital and you in Azkaban..."

Ron growled.

Draco snickered.

Hermione and Nora sighed simutaneously.

" I know it's a shock, and I was the one who didn't even want to tell any of you until it was absolutely necessary..."

Scorpius managed to find his voice. " I think your exact words were_ when I'm in labor_?"

Rose shook her head, than focused once more on the four faces before her. " Something like that...but, we talked about it...well actually Scorpius talked me into it and here we are."

Scorpius kept a steady focus on Mr. Weasley as he approached the group. " And....we have these."

All eyes followed the black and white photos that Scorpius produced from his pocket and placed before them on the table.

And of course what he expected and prayed like hell for, happened.

Hermione and his mother instantly began to tear up, gushing over the first picture of what was their grandchild.

His mother looked from the picture to her son, a watery smile blooming on her face while Rose watched her own mother stare in awe at what was still just as big as a peanut.

Draco nodded at the photo, adjusting his glasses in order to pick out his grandchild near the shaded area where his wife was pointing, and in the same motion was rapping Scorpius on the back, a wide smile developing.

And Mr. Weasley.

Well Scorpius decided he was more emotional than his pregnant daughter.

Tears billowed in his eyes while one arm enfolded around his daughter and his free hand gently held onto another picture, his mouth placed perfectly on Rose's forehead.

" How far along are you huney?" Hermione was now also on her feet, wrapping her daughter in another hug, while sobbing along with her husband.

" Healer Tyler seems to think from the tests a little over two months. Everything is normal, and the baby is healthy..."

One of the mothers or maybe her father squealed. " I have to call Ginny and Harry!"

Scorpius couldn't get over the quick change of heart, but he silently thanked the little peanut for having such a wonderous effect. He was sure massive amounts of gold couldn't produce such a reaction, even from the poorest people.

Nora was wrestling with her mobile, her words rapidly mixed with fresh tears as she punched out numbers.

Rose looked at Scorpius who was already smiling back at her. He mouthed _I told you so_, over the celebrations acting out before them.

" Lyra stop screaming!" Draco was laughing into the phone, while Nora cringed at the sounds of her daughters healthy lung span.

" Ginny! Rose is pregnant!" Hermione was between laughter and sobs.

" Did you call Hugo? I'll call Hugo!" Ron was grabbing at the pockets of his coat...all the while his cell phone was attached to his hip.

And through all the happy chaous, Scorpius was watching when Rose placed a hand on her stomach.

_**Well, I suppose there wasn't a whole lot to this chapter, but I had fun writing it! Avanell and Darinmeg, once again thanks so much! I love seeing that you've reviewed and I'm glad you are enjoying it and still sticking with me!**_

_**Okay, so I know the story is moving fast but the thing is I have my last exam tommorow and than come sunday Im going to be on my first set of clinicals as a paramedic....soooooo...might be a little busy! But I will try my hardest to keep it coming!**_

_**Review!**_

_**Breeva**_


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